Black and Gold
by OriginalAlienSuperspy
Summary: Life Jr. was happy right where she was-with her friends in Life Metropolis. But then she got an arranged marriage with Death's son and was shipped into the middle of nowhere-Death City, Nevada. A rule of symmetry: everything has its opposite.
1. A Very Humble Introduction

I didn't really know what I was doing here. You know when you're about to do something stupid, and you know it's stupid, but you do it anyway? But instead of having fun like you wanted you just wind up worried and fidgeting all night? Well that was me, right now.

Because I didn't really know what I was doing here.

"Hey L.J. You... doing all right over there?"

Without looking up, I simply raised my beer bottle in half-committal salute of assurance, the boy who called me shrugging and turning away. I glanced overhead and caught sight of the moon, half obscured by the trees as blood oozed from it's grin and cast a gold-red glow upon the clearing. Teenagers and young adults milled around the area, clogging up the nearby campsites and dotting the woodlands. Music pulsed from the main bonfire at the lakeside, but I stayed tucked away in my corner, not feeling up to mingling with anyone. Well, except for that one guy I chatted to long enough for him to offer me some of his beer. Hats tipped to you, charitable-extra-beer-man.

"L.J.! Hey!" I looked up and suddenly spotted two figures coming into focus from shadows.

One was a tall, lean-built guy with an old baseball cap pulled over dark hair; the other a petite ginger girl with wearing preppy, pastel-colored clothing. Both had eyes as dark as street asphalt- the pupil, iris and sclera were solid orbs of pitch black.

I waved and stood up, leaving my empty bottle in the dirt.

"Where are John and Damian?" The girl, Mary asked, peering about as if expecting my partners to materialize out of the trees. "Isaac and I didn't see them in the lot."

"Stayed home."

"Huh. That's not like them." Isaac noted as we automatically trudged towards the warmth of the bonfire.

I just shrugged, casually falling into step beside old friends. As we approached the bonfire, we came upon two more figures bickering in the glow.

"God damn it, Leah!" A boy with broad shoulders and brown hair panicked, stomping on the burning remains of a former fold-up chair.

"Gasp!" Leah feigned horror as she presumably rolled her eyes (though there was really no way to tell without a way to see her black irises), and swept a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. "It's burning! Very, very slowly! Oh goodness. Oh my word. How horrible, I hope we can escape in time."

"This isn't even our bloody chair!" Adam snapped, shaking a small lick of flame off his boots.

"That's not what you said when you sat your lazy arse in it!"

I waited patiently for the quarrel to end, wondering distantly just who the chair did belong to. Adam, Leah, Isaac and Mary had been my friends for as long as I could remember- the occasional fight or burnt piece of property was no news to me. I was going to be stuck with them for the rest of my life; accepting their oddities was something I had gotten used to rather quickly.

The way my mother explained it, is that there are two worlds (or at least "only two that I need concern myself with", whatever that means). The world of mortals, and the world of Gods. There was a time when the Gods thought to leave mortals to their own devices, leaving their world to be torn apart my monsters and madness. But then Death pitied the humans, and brought them order. Then more gods started taking active roles in the humans' lives, keeping each other in check to maintain Balance. And despite being vastly powerful, gods could still die. So they created 'fragments'- clones made from pieces of their own souls, to take over for them. Adam, Leah, Isaac and Mary were the fragments for the Elemental gods; Air, Fire, Earth and Water respectively. And because Life is forever co-dependent on these elements, if I were to stray too far from them… well, apparently it wasn't a healthy thing to do. At first I'd been quite uncertain about the whole thing, but as time went on, I began to genuinely enjoy spending time with the Junior Elementals. I knew better than to think this time would last forever, but I couldn't help but hope, as I watched them laugh and bicker, that these days would never end. They made me feel safe, like I wasn't alone in the burden my mother had left me with.

I suddenly felt at a soft buzzing from my coat pocket, and quickly extracting my cell phone with a skittering heart. There was only a brief text message on the screen, but it made me cringe nonetheless.

_Tick-tock, L.J. Someone's not happy._

_-John_

I had known John and Damian ever since I was twelve. They took up a job from my mother to be my body guards (read: babysitters that could follow me around inconspicuously), and I'd eventually adopted them as my partners. They didn't like telling me about their past lives, always being so irritatingly vague, but I'd eventually discerned that they were runaways.

"L.J.? What's up? You got all thoughtful all of a sudden."

I blinked and awkwardly put my phone away as my friends stared curiously.

"Well, there's something I forgot to really tell you about tonight…"

**This. Chapter. SUCKS. Oh god, I mean it. Please don't judge me or my OC on this awfulness, beginnings are damn hard for me.**


	2. Strange New Place

**Okay, I'm ba-ack! With a hopefully better update! Woo-hoo! Thanks for all those who read! And I own absolutely nothing. *sobs***

I felt like dissolving into the car seat. If I was able, genuinely I would have. The medley of frantic voices drilled into my ears as I solemnly pressed my forehead against the cool window. The flickers of my reflection that I caught on the glass stared grimly back at me.

"Your mom's back. Seriously. Tonight. Are you _bloody kidding me!" _Adam ranted, dangerously swerving the car back and forth through the lanes.

"L.J., your mom is here, in person, for the first time four years. And instead of having dinner with her, you stood her up to go drinking with us." Leah said slowly, staring at the sea of city lights, feet propped onto the dashboard.

"Yes, I just told you that. No need to quote me." The moment I'd confessed the significance of this night, my friends had immediately started squawking and running like chickens, scrambling to get me in the car and take me home.

"Aha, I've got a quote for you. How'd it go again? Oh, that's right… '_you're an idiot.'"_

It's natural to be afraid of your own mother. It's a bit odd to have everyone you know be afraid of her as well, but in this case I wasn't too surprised. My mother was, for lack of a better word, their boss. Their parents' boss.

"I didn't want to be there." I tiredly pushed my hair back with my hand.

"You wanted to run away." Mary stated, more patiently but still bewilderment, "L.J., your mother is the Guardian Angel. When she comes back from that other dimension and tells you she wants to have dinner with you, you don't stand her up."

"I didn't want to hear what she had to say." I shrugged.

I was a little pissed off and probably wasn't being as respectful as I should have been, but honestly, screw that. My mother, the great Lady of Life and Light and whatever else, was a lousy parent. It wasn't so much that I hadn't seen or spoken to her properly since I was twelve, so much as that she'd left me here at the worst possible time. Gods from the Otherworld have a tendency to drop their "children" in the physical realm- it's how they asserted control over the human world without having to enter it themselves. That was just our culture. I tried to manage the Institute as much as I could, but in the end I was just in charge of student and agent affairs. Glorified student body president, really. All the technical stuff was done by the staff and Administrative Board. The Institute was a collection of Godlings and special humans (most being some manner 'Chosen One') who needed shelter. As my mother was the overseer of the barrier between worlds, she was obligated to look after them. Emphasis on "was." Would've been nice to be given a head's up, mom. Especially since she knew I wasn't the most responsible person around. We finally pulled into the front drive, the gates opening automatically. A collective shiver ran down my friends' spines as the realized they'd been waiting on us.

"Alright, drop me off here. You guys go home." I unbuckled myself, climbing out of Adam's car.

"What? Are you sure?" Isaac blinked, sitting up.

"Uh huh. It's fine." I didn't want them to have to face my mother when they were clearly already about to have a break down just from seeing the gates open. "I'll see you when we leave for the Gathering tomorrow, alright?"

"We'll keep you in our hearts brave soldier." Isaac said dramatically, he and Mary saluting.

"Yeah yeah, we'll be with you in spirit." Adam waved me off, eager to floor it back down the road and as far away from my house as possible.

The headlights of the car scanned over me as it pulled back. I watched them disappear into the night before turning and trudging the rest of the way to the main entrance.

"Hey there. We half expected you to go in through the window." A calm voice attracted my attention, and I spotted a blonde boy, seventeen, leaning on the front steps.

"That only works when there's a chance they don't know I've gone." I replied smoothly. "Going through the door is a little bit more dignified anyway, Damien. Where's John?"

My partner shrugged. "Hell if I know. He tried damage control for as long as he could. Wouldn't be surprised if he was upstairs trying to drown himself in the shower right now."

"Hn." A quick look at him, and I saw the burning question in his eyes that he was trying not to ask.

Why did I do it? Keep sneaking out, even having the brass to ditch my own mother? The simple answer would be because I wanted to. I wanted to get out, go places, see things. My mother wanted to keep me almost exclusively in the country, which infuriated me. Other Godlings were able to go all over the world! Even some of the street kids I knew told me stories of the places they'd seen or come from. And I wanted it. If Death personified Law, than I had inherited the need for Liberation, freedom. Even the Chaos that came with it would be worth it.

"Now, I think the 'I'm just a kid' argument would go nicely here." Damian suggested suddenly. "Begging her not to fire us could also do."

"Your words of confidence never fail to elate me, Damian."

* * *

"Wow. I really, really don't know what to say right now. What _can _I say? Is there any point in me even trying to teach you anything anymore? Because _obviously, _you have all the answers! I told you, _I told you_ I was arriving tonight, that what I was going to say was important. Even after four years There are going to be things in this world that you won't be able to run away from Junior, things that don't _have windows _for you to sneak out of! You haven't grown up or learned any kind of responsi-"

I listened to my mother's ranting without protest. It occurred to me that my mother still had quite the temper. There was that phrase…'life's a bitch and then you die?'

"Life Junior, are you _smiling! ?"_

"No!" I jumped, and she continued on as if she had not been interrupted.

The phrase wasn't entirely true, though, not really… It was difficult to describe my mother. As a Guardian Angel, she seemed to glow out of the corner of your eye, but was always in perfect focus if you looked directly at her. Long, shimmery hair and bright teal eyes with a pearly sheen. She was an amazing and generous Guardian Angel, but as a mother? Kind of horrible, to be honest. I suddenly flinched as the old clock's chimes reverberated throughout the house; numbing my brain to keep me from thinking of all the snippy retorts I could be firing at my mother now that she'd finally stopped talking. But she simply sighed and placed a hand on her forehead.

"It's late, we need to leave for Nevada in a couple hours… do you have _anything _to say for yourself? Any proper explanation for what you did tonight that was so important?"

I lazily folded my arms. "Whatever you had to say didn't interest me. You left me here for four years, yet still demanded I lived by your rules. Fine. But now you don't get to act like you have any genuine parental authority over me, and I can spend my nights with the people who actually _were _there for me. If you wanted to keep me loyal and subservient to you, you shouldn't have left and forced me to do your job. I'm not just your fragment anymore, and _you_ saw to that."

There was a dark, sickly pause, and I knew I'd gone too far. In the morning, once this alcoholic haze dissipated, I'd be kicking myself and praying that the world would swallow me up. Who knows, maybe Isaac could have that arranged. But finally, my mother spoke.

"Is that so." It was quiet, and not really a question, so I didn't respond. "… Very well."

"Um…okay?" I blinked.

"It's late and we're leaving tomorrow. Since you're so independant, I trust you'll be ready."

And then she left. That was it?

Could it be she… agreed with me? Was this a trick or something? If her maturity level was anything like mine, I'd be right to stay aware.

* * *

"So… Nevada." I said, looking around over the barren land. "This is... well this certainly is a place."

"Yup." Leah nodded, popping her 'p'._'_

There was a hollow_ 'snap'_ as Damian snapped a picture of the scenery.

"Well I've done all I can." Damian said, carelessly airing the photo before stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Hey, so I was thinking, since I'm the only one with an cool-sounding name, does this mean I get an evil laugh? The acoustics in this hell valley have got to carry for miles!"

"NO." We all silenced him, as the last thing we (or anyone in a five mile radius) needed was to hear Damian rehearsing his maniacal laughter for two hours.

The limo we were in rolled through the hills, kicking up dust everywhere so that it spewed behind us. It was hard to believe anything, let alone a school, could be out here. Gatherings always took place out here in Nevada, since Lord Death couldn't leave the city. Not that I could get why anyone would root themselves out here, you know, if they could help it. But I'd have to refrain from saying stuff like that at the party-just before getting into the car; Shadow (one of my mother's subordinates and occasional partners) had given us all a very warning lecture:

_"Now, in case you've all forgotten," He began, shushing us with a 'this is serious business' look. "The Gathering is not like the meets most of you have been to. __**All**__ the Gods will be there. So you are all expected to be on your best behavior tonight-we don't want a repetition of what happened at last year's Elemental Meeting…"_

_He cast a disapproving gaze at Leah._

_"How was __**I **__supposed to know it was combustible!"_

_"We understand, _sir_." Adam said, elbowing his girlfriend. "Lay low and don't break anything until it's over."_

The Gathering happened every 100 years, so it was natural to be anxious or excited. Every God that interacted in mortal world was to be attending, making this a pretty big deal- but to me, this was just going to be 24 hours of being polite to people I don't know and sitting next to other Gods I wouldn't know how to talk to. It was starting to grow dark outside the car window, the sun just bobbing over the horizon with each chuckle. I tugged at my white and gold gown-with my dresses, I usually tied the sash near the side. But tonight, my mom insisted on having it tied at the back. As if that'd make it any more fancy.

"Welcome to Halloween Town." Adam murmured as we began to approach Death City, once only a speck in the distance.

"Be nice." Mary said absently, staring out the window with me.

I was slightly surprised-it didn't look like one of those podunk little American hick towns we'd been expecting, and I could tell by the looks my friends were exchanging that they agreed. It was a rather quaint, but attractive city. The homes were cute with shingled roofs and the streets made of cobblestone that made the limo jostle. Today, the buildings were decked out in banners and streamers for the special occasion. When we finally pulled up to 'DWMA', we were greeted by the sight of numerous limos like ours pulling up to what was easily the biggest and most, ahem, elaborate building in the whole city. The limo crawled to a stop, and we stepped out onto the front steps of the school.

"...So you ever wonder what he's laughing about?" Damian asked conversationally, completely ignoring our battling friends as we began hiking up the stairs.

"Eh…?" I followed his gaze to the sinking sun. "Oh. Well, it must be pretty funny if we can hear him from all the way down here. Noise doesn't travel in space, right?"

"Huh... You known, he sounds kinda like the guy from Mario Kart."

"Uh, L.J.?" I glanced back at Mary, who was sheepishly rubbing her neck.

"Mm?"

"Would it be okay if... you know, we went looking for our parents?" She asked, slightly bashful.

"Wha- yeah, of course. Go ahead, we'll see you later." Just because I had rebelled, I didn't want my friends feeling bad for still being subservient to their parents.

I was planning on spending the whole Gathering away from my mother- she'd be leaving once it was over, anyway. Figures.

"Well, we've got time to kill." Damien shrugged, watching the group scatter. "Wanna find where these guys are hiding the food?"

* * *

Why we thought anything about today would be easy, I'll never know. The school's architecture was ridiculously convoluted- it all looked the damn same. You think someone would have taped up some arrows or something to help out guests. It wasn't until another half hour of searching that we finally found our way to the dining hall.

"No, no, no! It's leaning to the left! Take it down and do it again!"

Some guy was in here, frantically talking at a group of students who were adjusting a banner.

"And after that, someone needs to chisel down the ice sculpture, it's leaning too far to the righ- agh, no, just get rid of it!"

"Kid, that's the best we can do right now." One student said, stepping off a chair. "It's getting dark, it's almost time to seat everyone."

"That's why everything must be precise and perfect! If not, the only thing the other Gods will be talking about for the next 100 years is how disgraceful the decorations were!"

"Whoa." John blinked.

"Uh…dude?" Damian asked cautiously as we pushed him forward. "We were just wondering where the food was…"

The boy turned around, revealing three stripes of white going through his dark hair, and eyes of bright gold. It was kinda creepy, because he wasn't…blinking. I could tell because he was staring straight at us, now horrified that someone had actually walked through a wide open door and seen his 'disgraceful decorations' or whatever. And- uh, did he just stop breathing?

"Ahem, those are cool stripes, mate." John said, changing the subject. "That a fashion or something in America?"

The boy's eyes grew wide as he opened his mouth, but instead of a snappy retort like we'd expected-

"I'm an ABOMINATION! Trash! What have I done to deserve such **asymmetrical** features! I knew I should have tried harder to dye them before the party but the banners were askew, the sculpture is disproportionate, and a_ugh, _I deserve to DIE!"

And then he was on the floor, in some kneeling-fetal position. Odd choice for someone who seemed so sanitary.

"Okay…what's up with him?" John asked nervously as the boy continued to freak out on the floor.

"Maybe he's on the drugs." Leah suggested, materializing out of the background like a Predator and curiously tilting her head to the side.

"Possession, perhaps?" I offered.

"I got it!" It makes sense, I understand now. This guy, he's…" Damien pointed at him dramatically. "AN EMO!"

We all shared ellipses before John face-palmed.

"Maybe we should just go…"

"Yeah…okay."

"Let's do that."

**Okay, so L.J. and Kid have met…sort of. I hope he wasn't too over-the-top…but hey, it's a ceremony that happens every 100 years, you'd be under pressure too! And the story still sucks but I'm working on it. XP**


	3. Say What?

**Alright, here's chapter 3! Thanks for all those who took an interest in this fic! I'm having so much fun writing it, that I've started to fall behind on my homework…so if there's ever a gap in my updates, it's because I'm catching up. But don't worry! I've got the whole thing planned out, so it'll all be up here eventually. Enjoy!**

I drummed my fingers on the tablecloth, tiredly listening to various speeches and announcements. No wonder these things only happened every 100 years! They were **dull**. Of course, it would soon be over with the speeches, and then everyone would be free to dance and mingle…despite the singer mysteriously going missing. I wasn't saying anything, but after six verses of 'da-ba-do-wah, dab-do-wah,' I had explicitly seen Leah and Damian shove some lady into a closet. Various kids who I presumed to be students were in uniform, handing out beverages, though one idiot had been thrown out for deafeningly announcing his name and stealing food. My mother was sitting over at the table for 'important people'-AKA Love, the Elements, Time, ect. Most of the Gods were projecting through in their avatar forms, as very few are normally humanoid and even fewer could fit their true bodies in a ballroom. I had been dropped at the kids' table with the other Jr. Forces like myself. Most of them were fidgeting uncomfortably, not used to being in the same dimension as their parents, let alone the same room.

Eventually it was my mother's turn to speak, not that I would know if I didn't happen to be looking up- my headphone buds had been shoved in my ears for the past hour. I probably should've perked up in case I was quizzed later, but she had started to go off about the balance (like I always said-it's a hippie cult! You need your own tye-dye kit to enter!), instantly causing me to zone out. It wasn't until after I vaguely felt the room rumble with clapping that I felt someone nudge my shoulder. I extracted a single headphone, and looked over at Isaac.

"What?"

Whoa, he looked awful. Why was he so pale?

"L.J.!" Mary hissed across the table, startling me with the urgency in her tone. "Why didn't you tell us! ?"

I looked at her blankly. "Tell you what?"

"That you're bloody engaged!"

I blinked.

"Huh? I'm not! What?" I was just confused now.

"Well your mother just said you are!"

This was one weird joke. "Well this is the first _I've _heard of it!"

"What do you mean this was the first you've heard of it! ?" Adam loudly whispered furiously. "You're getting _married_!"

"I mean _this is the first I've heard of it!" _Now I was getting upset, because their was this bitter, creeping sensation crawling around in my gut.

I took out my other earpiece, and suddenly realized how really, really quiet the room was. And then I saw everyone staring at my end of the table.

"Um."

* * *

It was after the speeches had ended and everyone was free to socialize that I was absolutely jumped by my friends and Godling charges from the Institute.

"This is a weird joke, right boss?" Josh, son of Winter leaned as far across the table as he could to look at me. "Great Mother's trying to jerk you around or something?"

"Of course. I mean… almost definitely."

At least for the 'jerking around' part, but as far as a joke… I was becoming less and less sure. No one was laughing. I had heard no punchline.

To be honest, arranged marriages weren't completely unheard of in our species, but they were few and mostly revolved around the Balance, so we always saw them coming. They were the same relationships our parents had established- Fire with Air, Water with Earth, for example. I had not seen this coming, and as far as I knew, my mother had never been married to anyone. My stomach gave another twist as I looked at who was sitting with Lord Death- that crazy-druggie-emo boy from before, who for _some_ reason got to sit at the adult table.

The more I began to think about it, the more it began to make a sick kind of sense. My mind drifted back to the 'important conversation' from before. Damn it all. Especially the fact that if I hadn't snuck out, I could have learned this beforehand and be halfway to Europe by now. Crazy boy didn't look surprised at all, he didn't even look that crazy at the moment. Had he known? Guess his family life didn't suck as much as mine. And if I weren't about to throw up my lunch, I'd have internally admitted that he actually was kinda attractive. He had good posture, anyway. Was this… possibly… for real? A bunch of the waiter-kids were staring, but that couldn't have mattered less. Because one thing was for sure. Heads were gonna roll. Hopefully mine wouldn't be one of them…

* * *

**Later that night…**

"What the hell, mom! What. The. Hell!" I was in Death's office, screaming and waving my arms around like they were signal flags.

If only I knew how to say 'No! Stop, crash imminent!' In flag.

"I tried to tell you-"

"Thaaaat's not the point." I said hastily, trying to cover up the part that was my fault (and the fault of my semi-intoxicated outburst). "The point is that I am 16 and _getting married _to a stranger!"

"L.J., this was planned for a very long time."

Oh, I'm sorry? Was that meant to make me feel better? BECAUSE IT DID NOT. I looked around wildly for my next tactic.

"What, this- this is _bloody arbitrary silliness,_ is what this is! You're gone for 4 bloody years and now- augh, oy! You, emo guy! What do you feel about this!" I pointed to him, who was sitting in some fancy chair and watching me like a somewhat amusing television show- which I have to admit, is not so strange considering the way I was acting.

He thought silently for a moment, but I didn't miss his eyes narrowing slightly at my name-calling. Finally he said,

"My goal in life is to make the world symmetrical."

…Good for him? Augh, maybe he _was _on drugs.

"For light and darkness to be completely balanced."

Oh dear god.

It couldn't be so and _come on emo guy __**don't do this to me**__-_

"Marrying you would the personification of that, and would be a significant step to my goal, so I'm told."

Ooooh-ho-ho-ho, _hell_. _No_.

I blinked. "You are seriously willing to _marry_ me, a complete _stranger, _for the sake of symmetry? The world's gone crazy… I must have gone crazy!"

I had to find a new angle to work and fast-oh yes! I'll take Damian's idea and play victim!

"I-I'm just a kid! I'm not ready! I've never even had a real boyfriend!"

"L.J. relax. You get a choice." My mother said, and I could tell by her voice that she was getting exasperated.

"I do!" I couldn't help but hope.

"Of course. Either this…or let the world slip into unbalance and chaos."

Hm…

"L.J.!" Apparently I wasn't supposed to think about it for that long.

"W-wait." I paused. "If life and death have to join like you say, why didn't you two get married?"

"Are kidding?" Death and my mother said together, "I can't _stand_ him/her."

* * *

"You're moving to NEVADA! ? HERE! ?" Leah yelled as we all sat on the front steps of the school.

"What do you mean, _her?_ _We're _moving to Nevada." Isaac said, slumping over. "Elements can't be too far from Life. And that counts for us and L.J. too."

Leah spun on me. "I hate you."

"Hmph." I grunted, not wanting to argue so much as sulk.

"Hold up. If what they say is true, what's kept the world from falling apart thus far?" John asked.

"You weren't listening in class, Johnny." Mary said, poking him in the head. "Life and Death made a contract, saying that for each soul that was killed/devoured, a new soul would be born, good or bad. It keeps good and evil equal. And up 'till, say, a few years ago, that kept the balance. But recently, with all the new madness, discord, and the Gods' interference it hasn't been enough. New adjustments have to be made. See, Life and Death _should _have joined in Union together back then, but instead it's been pushed off onto you guys."

"They taught _that _in our class?" John asked.

"The first bit. The rest requires at least two brain cells to rub together."

"Well, it still sucks." Damian sighed. "…I get to ride in the limo at your wedding, right?"

Adam had to restrain me for the next ten minutes to keep me from strangling him.

Once I had calmed down, I plopped myself back onto the pavement grudgingly.

"I'm not actually getting married until I'm eighteen, Damian. They just announced it tonight because they thought it'd be something 'special' to say it at the Gathering. Pfft."

"So you won't even be able to legally drink at your own damn wedding! ?" Damian spluttered. "Sucks."

My eye twitched at how he was completely missing the point, but I said nothing.

"What sort of engagement ring is that?" Leah pointed at the skull-ring on my finger.

"Oh, you like?" I asked with weary sarcasm, "Emo's got two of them to preserve his 'symmetry.'"

…

"…_Really _'sucks."

"Hm." Hey wait.

…At some point some one really ought to tell me this guy's name.


	4. A Series of Unfortunately Bad Ideas

"But I don't wanna go to Nevada!" Damian whined, lazing on my bed while I shoved things carelessly into my bag.

"Tough! I gotta go, so you do too." I snapped.

"Ugh, it's in two years! Why did they have to announce it! Why do I-I mean _we_ have to leave _now_?_" _John ranted. "We could still be blissfully ignorant, and not catching a 4 AM plane."

"Thanks for the compassion." I rolled my eyes.

My friends were not sympathetic ones. Back at the Gathering, I had to dance with Emo boy-with _everyone _staring at me. And while the _entire compilation of Forces _were watching me and my, er…him(I still couldn't say the word that began with 'f' and ended with a fancy 'é'), what did they do? They made funny faces and tried to make me laugh! Some might say they were trying to cheer me up, but really, they were just plain ol' making fun of me. My mom could have mistaken my half-smiles for happiness and erased all possibility of calling the wedding off!

"Huh. So really, where are we going?" Damian asked. "Canada might be nice this time of year. I can change my name to John!"

"Shut up, Damian."

"We're not going to leave the country."

"So… Wales?"

"No, I mean we're not running away. We're going to Nevada. Mom wants me to get to know him…" I sighed. "And you know what she said, about the world going sideways… I've kinda got to."

"With emo boy? Seriously?"

I gritted my teeth. "Yeah. Emo boy."

"You know his name is Death the Kid, right?"

"Oh, because 'Death the Kid' isn't emo-sounding _at all."_ Damian snorted.

"Point taken."

* * *

"It IS an odd-looking sort of place, ain't it?" Adam said, wrinkling his nose against the desert dust. "What happens when the candles are lit? Does the wax drip everywhere, and then they have to replace it with _new _giant candles? Mighty inconvenient."

**"YAH-HOO!"**

"Wha?" I looked about blankly. "You hear something?"

"Nope."

"Huh? What are we talking about now?"

"I kinda feel like I'm being watched or something, though."

**"Hahaha! Watch and shake with fear of-"**

"I'm _sure _I heard something."

"Just now?"

"Uh…guys? Might have something to do with the talking speck up there." Mary pointed, and sure enough, there was a tiny dot on the tipetty-top of the roof.

"What the bloody hell are they doing?"

"Is it a suicide?" John asked, squinting.

"Ooh! JUMP! JUMP!" Damian and Leah began to chant.

"Huh. He actually did it." Isaac said with faint surprise. "Can we be held liable for this in America?"

We all watched, our gaze following the dot as it fell through the air.

But instead of corpse crashing lifeless to the cobblestone, it turned out to be a boy, who landed perfectly on his feet.

…

"Well that was lame." Damian pouted, obviously hoping for…something else.

I had to question my choice in partners sometimes. Hm.

"I am the AMAZING BLACK STAR!" The boy said triumphantly, obviously proud of his landing.

"Oh, you're here to show us around?" John asked. "We got bloody lost last time we were here.

"Idiot! Why would I waste my time doing that? _I_ am the man who will surpass god!"

"…So…you're _not _here to show us around?"

"Which one of you is the new god that's dared to enroll in my school!" Black Star belted, ignoring him.

"Uh…we're all kind of…uh…" Adam trailed off… "Is that your natural hair color?"

Black Star ignored the question, but must have heard him, because he replied,

"Oh I get it! Fine, I'll take you ALL on! I challenge you to a duel!"

What? No slap with a white glove?

We all exchanged glances. Did they put something in the water out here, or were _we _the crazy ones for being sane?

"_We're _no one. Please ignore us, oh mighty smiter." John pointed to himself and Damian before flashing us a peace sign. "Have fun."

"Come on, who's first! Or do you cowards wanna all come at me at once! Because I'll take you down anyways!"

"Um…" We all immediately stepped back, save Adam, who wasn't paying attention.

"YA-HOO! All right! You wanna go first! Bring it!" Black Star said enthusiastically.

I'm telling you, if we could take his hot-bloodedness and turn it into fuel, no car would ever be short on energy. How did he project his voice like that without hurting himself? Did he take lessons from the sun?

"Er…right. We'll just…let you two get to it, then, and we'll be…waiting inside." Damian clasped my shoulders and steered the rest of us in as the fighting commenced.

We were all rather tired and irritable, having to travel so much in one week. It had really started to occur to me how this was real, and not, in fact, a weird dream I was having after eating Leah's cooking.

* * *

"Damian. I'm pretty sure we're not allowed to eat in here." Mary pointed, leaning on one arm.

"Really?" Damian's eyes darted for the exit. "Guess I'll just have to go-"

"Sit down." John tugged him back into his seat. "Ugh, I just know this is going to end with me doing all your homework."

"I'd be very indebted to you." Damian said hopefully.

John wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Screw you. I've owned your soul since the third grade, big damn difference that made."

I rolled my eyes as students began to pour in. Spotting a very bruised-up Adam and a laughing Leah, who had stayed to watch the fight, I waved them over.

"How'd it go?" I asked.

"He did okay." Leah giggled, "but that kid wasn't _entirely _all talk. Adam's gonna take forever to heal."

"Who won?" Isaac asked.

"Can't really thay." Adam said, spitting some blood into a tissue to rid himself of his lisp, "Class started, so with weapon made him stop while Leah made me stop. I would've won."

Leah scoffed. "He threw you into a wall."

"If I was using my powers, he'd be a corpse." Adam snapped, spitting out more blood.

"So you're stronger…but a worse fighter. Interesting."

I cut off the argument. "So did he punch you in the mouth or something?"

Leah barely suppressed snickers. "He totally bit his tongue by accident."

Wow.

"...Isaac." I said, tilting back in my seat to lean closer to him, as he was in the isle above me, "How long do you think we can go pretending not to know them?"

Isaac shook his head. "I've tried for thirteen years. I don't think it can be done."

Brilliant.

"Uh, hi. You're the new students?" I looked up to see a girl with two pigtails standing over the seat next to me.

"Yeah, that's us. You can call me L.J." I smiled. "What's your name?"

"Maka Albarn."

"I don't suppose there's any relation between you and the idiot who hit on my mom at the Gathering?"

Maka's face turned slightly sour. "That's my good-for-nothing father. Please ignore him."

"Will do, it's the same thing with those two." I pointed at Damian and Leah, who were fighting over a pencil. "Never met them."

Maka smiled. "So where's your partner?"

I pointed to John proudly before reluctantly pointing to Damian. "They're not as useless as they look, I promise."

Maka laughed (though she sounded unsure if she should be laughing or not) and took a seat. "I'd introduce you to Soul, but he's not here yet. He might be helping Black Star to the nurse's office."

"Oh. Do fights happen often here?" I asked.

"Uh…yeah, I guess so." Maka nodded. "Did they at your school?"

"Well, on occasion." I said thoughtfully. "But just sparring, for training, I mean. We went on missions too, though."

In truth, most of the kids at the Institute all had dual personalities. It really wasn't so much a school as it was an agency that happened to have classes in it. When we weren't being professional and doing our jobs, we spent more time partying than fighting. But I mean, could _you _punch the guy who brought his own keg? I think not.

"Hey, weren't you at the Gathering too? Helping out?" I asked, it suddenly occurring to me.

"Oh, yeah." Maka nodded, looking away for a moment.

"So…you saw…" I said faintly, drumming the ringed finger on the desk.

Saw what? Oh, not me getting married off. Not me freaking out at an important dinner party. Not me trying not to burst out laughing while dancing with the Death God's son because my friends are idiots. Not me spilling champagne into Mary's turkey (which I also did. And she didn't notice until she saw us laughing, either).

"…Kid's a really great guy, you know." She said after a moment. "He's smart, takes good care of Liz and Patti, plus he's really dependable-"

"Unless he realizes he forgot to fold a napkin back home." I said under my breath. "Look it's really nothing to do with him. Nothing personal. But see…it's just the whole situation. You could probably tell that the announcement kind of shook me-What's wrong?"

Up till now, Maka had been giving me an odd sort of look.

"Uh, hey can I ask a question?"

"Sure." I sat up, thankful to no longer have to talk about my 'feelings'.

"Your soul-"

The door suddenly burst open, causing me to jump.

"Is the teacher here?" I asked, changing the subject. "Hope he's not the type for awkward introductions."

I don't think I could handle standing before a class that knew me only as "that chick who's Life's daughter and is marrying Em-I mean, _Kid,_ and tell them things about myself that they didn't care about.

A man covered in cuts and stitches spun in on a rotating office chair before hitting a piece of lint and toppling to the floor.

"Fail…" Damian smirked under his breath.

"Tell me that isn't-"

"That's him." Maka answered me. "He's, uh… actually really brilliant."

"Huh." I watched the man flip back into his chair without using his arms. "How did he get that up the stairs...?"

"Good morning class! Now today, we are fortunate to have some new students!" He said gleefully, the amount of happiness in his voice somehow managing to make me shiver. "I'm Doctor Stein. Why don't you introduce yourselves?"

_'That can't be his real name.' _I thought, watching the light catch his glasses creepily as he flashed the kind of smile you see in horror movies. _'Then again…'_

"Uh, I'm L.J.?" Why did that come out as a question? "These are my weapons, John and Damian."

"I'm Adam, this is Leah."

"I'm Mary."

"Isaac."

There was a rustling, and when I looked up, Stein was holding some papers in my face.

"Sign right there." He said, handing them out to my friends and I.

"Uh…what are these?" Isaac asked, holding his curiously.

"Just some standard release forms. You know, regarding insurance, field trips, any dissectingofyouduringyourstay-" He spoke so fast at the end; I had to do a double take.

"What."

"Ah. Sir? John and I aren't even Godlings." Damian spluttered, looking at his paper in terror.

"No? Well I'm sure your vital organs will be most beneficial to my research anyways."

_Bam._

"Um, sir?" Isaac raised his hand. "…He's fainted."

Wow. And then my forehead got reacquainted with my palms.

* * *

"So Maka and Soul are the ones next door who are always shouting." I explained, stepping into our new apartment.

"Eh. Well having our own place is still cool." John shrugged.

"Yeah…but it doesn't change why…why we're here." I said, slowly sinking into the newly un-wrapped couch.

"Right…have you heard anymore about the wedding?" Isaac asked.

"I'm- we're- _him and I _are supposed to go meet a wedding planner sometime. Even though it's two damn yearsfrom now. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do _after _the wedding, though."

"Well, you're not going to stay in Death City after the honeymoon, are you?" Leah asked.

I froze.

"What?" Leah glanced about. "What'd I say?"

Personally, I'd been referring to my life with Kid after the wedding but a…a…

"H-honeymoon?"

"Well, yeah. I just assumed-"

"Honeymoon." I said again to myself, my heart going numb.

* * *

"Hey, Soul, you hear something?" Black Star was walking down the hill from DWMA.

"What's that little speck?" Soul pointed to a tiny black dot that was quickly moving farther and farther away from Death City. "I hear it too…"

"AAAAAAaaaaaaah!"

* * *

"Is this really necessary?" I asked, tugging at the metallic band now clasped around my wrist.

So I had sprinted, screaming and waving my arms around like a mad, escaped convict from prison before finally being tracked down, and dragged (kicking and screaming) back. I'm not afraid to admit it. Because technically, no one told me I couldn't!

"You tried to run away from Death City, into the desert, on foot." Dr. Stein chuckled, fiddling with the bracelet with a screwdriver. "The barren wasteland out there aside, there are forces out there who do wish you harm, and we're responsible for you during your stay here. Your mother left explicit instructions that you shouldn't leave unattended. I won't bore you with the details, but basically, with this on, this afternoon's incident shouldn't be happening again."

"Do I want to know?"

"Eh…I guess not."

"Great." I sighed, hopping off my chair. "Whoa!"

The weight of the bracelet sent me crashing to the floor.

"Ow."

"Hm…"

'Hm?' That's the best he's got for me? _'Hm?'_

"Perhaps the alloy is too heavy."

"Perhaps." I grunted from the floor. "Just leave me here. Build a grave around me. It's totally fine."

"Don't be silly." Stein said, shuffling around through his cupboards, "Though if that's how you feel, I have more release form-"

And odd growl emanated from my throat as I struggled to lift up my hand.

"What else have to got for me?"

"Well, _that _is made of a lighter metal. It's newer, too."

_"That _is a collar." I said flatly, my eyes narrowing.

I don't care _how _scary he is! I'll take him down if he even _tries _to put that thing on me- I bet it'll make my head explode if I cross the bloody border!

"I created it to keep track of some coyotes I worked on. It's the same principle."

_Excuse_ me! The same? My ass.

…And what does he mean by _'worked on?'_

"Look on the bright side. You'll be symmetrical."

I glared at him so fiercely; I thought I could make him burst into flames. But no, he was totally immune. Even his grin stayed perfectly in place.

"You find this all hilariously entertaining, don't you?" I accused.

But he just kept on humming, as if that'd make him any more innocent, or that smile any less creepy.

**Longest chapter yet! Don't ask where my inspiration for this weird story line comes from, but EVERYTHING has a purpose. Totally swearing it.**


	5. Locked In

Chapter 5

**Wow, I am kind of addicted to this place. Well, thanks to all the wondrous reviews! Oh, and the winner of the 'guess that quote' contest is ****Murdering Star****! Congrats! **

**The quote was from 'Final Fantasy Fugitive'- the first time I saw it, I couldn't stop laughing.**

**Yes, I'm weird. But you already knew that, didn't you?**

**So Murdering Star, just send me a little outline of your character, and I'll see how much I can work in! Okay, so here's the fifth chappy of Black and Gold!**

**And according to these papers from my common sense…I own nothing. Shocker.**

"A lock-in? Really?" I read the bulletin off the board. They do those sorts of things here?"

"Looks it." Mary shrugged. "What do you think?"

"Uh…"

'Uh' was right. It was rather mind-blowing to me that anyone would so willingly volunteer to be locked in a room with my friends. It'd been a few weeks, surely these people knew better…

"I wanna go." Mary said, as though that settled everything. "Where's John and Damian? I thought you three had third period together."

I thought back to early this morning, when Damian had come to me (well, more like inched and crawled like a handicapped bug) while wheezing and coughing as though he were a 60-year-old nicotine addict.

"We do. But Damian's convinced he's got some incurable disease, and is unable to attend class. So he wrangled John into helping him limp to the nurse's office."

"Is he okay?"

"Did you know there's a test in third period today?"

"Oh. So you're _not _going?"

"No."

I see enough of my friends as it is, especially now that we're living in a joint-apartment. Did you know that they actually fought for two hours over which movie to play on 'DeathFlix' night? Well they did. I don't think the movie was even that long. Anyway, having them out of the house for a whole night was a dream come true. Now I might be able to put my food down on the counter and actually eat it before the "invisible elves" stole it.

Though wanting to be rid of my friends was only half of it. Not that having a _metal tracking-and-god-knows-what _strapped to my neck made me bitter or anything, but I wasn't in the mood to be referred to as 'the girl engaged to Kid', 'Lady Life's daughter' and now 'girl with collar' behind my back a whole night. Plus, Stein was going to be a chaperone, and I do NOT want to be locked in the same building as that guy.

So somehow during my internal monologue, my feet had brought me to the classroom. I climbed up to my usual spot beside John.

"Where's Damian?" I asked.

"Nurse says that he's running a temperature." John said shortly, shuffling through his notes.

"Really?" I blinked. "My bad."

* * *

I swiveled carelessly around in my chair, reading. Everyone was at the lock-in, except Damian, who wanted to spend the night in the nurse's office. He was either a huge drama queen or a jerk for wanting to rub in my face that he'd actually been sick. Pfft. It was unusually quiet, so every time I heard a 'creak' or other house-made sound I jumped and spun around, ready to demand why someone was sneaking up on me (There are four boys in this building who simply find it _hilarious_ to surprise you to the point that you nearly fall out a window. Suffice it to say, I won't be sitting near any exits for a while). I was fiddling with my phone when it started to vibrate with a text message. I hadn't gotten any texts or calls in a while, considering my cell service's limit was met when I passed into the middle of nowhere. Flipping the phone open, I saw it was John.

**L.J.:**

**Frgt my bag. Bring it in 4 me? Thanx.  
-John**

I frowned. John wasn't the type to forget his stuff, but sure enough, I journeyed out and saw it sitting on the dining room table. I chose not to be irritated about the boys always wanting to stay in _our _side of the complex, and instead be mad about having to find my shoes and get dressed. Slinging the bag over my shoulder, I stomped my way up the hill and up the steps of the school, as though they would hear me and tremble before my annoyance. Only one section of school was all lit up, so I figured they were probably gathered in the ballroom. Slipping into the main entrance, I made my way down the halls. There was some kind of spooky music playing down the hall, which meant one of two things: that they were watching a horror flick, or Stein was conducting a musical. I opted for the first, because no slasher film could be scarier than _that._ I was pleasantly greeted when I stepped into the ballroom and found the students in their pajamas and all gathered around a television. Blood was splashing all over the place, so it didn't take many guesses towards which movie the chaperone had cast his vote for. Like I said, I was _so _not bitter about the whole collar thing. Which by the way, not only kept track of me, but monitored my heartbeat, blood pressure, and wavelength. How did I found out? Because today's lesson consisted of Stein posting a graph and asking us to determine patterns in my adrenaline levels. Yeah. But _I_ was above being bitter.

"L.J.!" John waved at me. "Thanks for coming."

"Yeah, yeah, just take your junk." I muttered, handing the bag to him and turning around to go the way I came.

However, when I tried the door, it just made a little 'click' instead of moving like a good door should.

"What? Come on!" I banged on the insolent thing angrily.  
"No one can leave after eight o' clock." Stein appeared out of bleeding _nowhere,_ his glasses shining just as a blood-curdling scream erupted from the television.

Coincidence? I think not.

"B-but-"

"You made it just in time." John handed me the bag, and when I peered inside it, I saw a bunch my toiletries and other essentials stuffed inside.

Son of a bitch. That was it. Break out the white flags and 'Partner Wanted' fliers, because I was giving up on these boys.

* * *

"Oh, cheer up, L.J." Mary said, sitting back against the wall and toying with a bottle cap. "Someone with friends as cool as us shouldn't shut in as much as you do."

I literally bit my tongue to keep it from lashing at her.

"Yeah. Maybe if you had more fun with other students, you'd get that thing off your neck sooner." Adam added, trying and failing to juggle a couple of erasers so that one came and bounced off my head.

The way they were talking, you'd think I was some sort of recluse that only came out at twilight to feed on the blood of small goats. The movie had long since ended, and students were talking, playing board games, or (especially in Black Star's case) eating from the snack table.

"Oy, L.J." John poked my shoulder. "Isn't that Romeo over there, staring at an air vent?"

I followed his gaze, and saw Kid was indeed looking at an air vent over on the other end of the room.

"It's probably stunning him with its symmetrical quality." I shrugged, turning back to the book I was holding.

"L.J." Leah gripped my shoulder, "…Something's happening."

Leah was right. All around the gym, shouts and yells were beginning to erupt, all from the males in the room.

"What in the hell…!?" I stood up. "If this keeps up, it's going to get-"

A table soared through the air.

"-violent."

"What's going on? Adam!?" Leah gently nudged him, but he'd gone rigid, his face blank, as had Isaac and John.

I looked at the ground, where an odd orange smoke was creeping across the floor. I sprinted across the room towards the air vent, where Liz and Patti were trying to stir Kid. Looking up into the vent, I saw the orange smoke pooling and tumbling out of it and into the room.

"John!" I called.

"I'M BUSY!" He angrily shouted back, his voice shaking me.

What he was 'busy' doing was throwing furniture around the room. I spun in place-Stein was nowhere to be found. Which could be a good or bad thing, depending on how you looked at it. Kid was still staring into space with pupils the size of olives.

"Um…Kid?" I asked, joining in. "Kid? Ki-id?"

"It's no use, he's completely out of it!" Liz exclaimed, shaking him.

"Huh…OY, STRIPES, I'm talking to you!"

He blinked. Well, that was a start.

"Hey, you…oh."

How can I put into words what sort of expression he was wearing? Hm…he looked like a lopsided blob had just skipped up to him and called him an asymmetrical mass with wayside skunk streaks and no sense of organization. Oh, and that one of his shoes were untied.

Yeah. Just think on that a minute.

"Now Kid-"

_**'CRASH!' **_

"Ow…" I found myself in a pile of rubble and broken plaster. "You threw me through a WALL!?'

He had indeed, and I had the boulders in my shoes to prove it.

"L.J.! Are you okay?" I looked up and saw Maka and Leah standing over me.

"Uh, yeah." I cracked my shoulder back into place with some difficulty as I stumbled over the debris. "Where's Mary?"

"We got separated. Ugh, what is going _on? _It's like the guys don't even recognize us anymore!" Leah groaned.

"I don't know. Where's Stein?" I asked, jog-limping down the hall as my leg healed.

"I saw him rush out a bit before the smoke started flowing in." Maka explained, striding beside us as we came to the front doors.

"We've got to find a teacher." Leah said, pushing against the doors. "What the hell!? It's stuck!"

"What?" I shoved my weight against it, and sure enough, it stayed firmly in place.

"Guys, look!" Maka pointed at a nearby window, which was coated with green sludge from the outside.

We couldn't even go to Lord Death for help, as he was in a different segment of the school. So we were trapped in part of the building with no teacher and a bunch of badass male classmates that were pumped up on testosterone to keep us company, which rendered most of us without our weapons. Someone serious was clearly _not _our biggest fan. There were footsteps behind us, and I turned slowly around to see a very angry looking Soul, Adam and Kid standing behind us.

"Aw, hell." Leah groaned, cracking her knuckles. "Maka, think you can talk some sense into your partner?"

"I'll try." She nodded.

"Leah, be care-Agh!"

_BANG. _

"I am so SICK of you kicking me into stuff!" I shouted, pushing myself off of the cemented doors. "It was just a comment about your hair, for crying out loud! GET OVER IT!"

But this was apparently the wrong thing to say, as Kid dropped into some weird fighting stance **(A/N I don't get that 'stance of crime' he sometimes pulls. I mean, one gun'll be pointed at the sky, and the other at his foot! What's up with that?) **and stared at me with the same weird look in his eyes-pupils dilated, and brow furrowed into a definite glare, so that he looked furious and half-asleep at the same time. Kid came at me so fast I barely registered the movement before aimed a kick at my head. I dodged just in time, but five minutes into the fight it became apparent that while I spent my weekends partying and napping, _he _had been out god-knows-where training. Because quite frankly, I was getting my ass kicked. The blows came so fast that I was forced entirely on the defense, not able to tell where one attack stopped before another was sent my way. I did manage to made contact with him a fair amount of times, even knocking him into a pillar. But each blow I landed seemed to only anger him more, and it's not like I actually wanted to _hurt _him…yet. However, if Kid hit me in the stomach one more time, I might change my mind. I glanced out of the corner of my eye to see Leah thrown into a classroom, and he took the opportunity to grab me by the neck and slam my head into the floor. It hurt. A lot. Stars twinkled, danced, and mocked me as they spotted across my vision. The tiles under me were cracked and shattered and the ground felt like it was shaking. I tried to get up, but my head couldn't tell which way was up and which way was down. I was wondering if attempted murder would be a liable cause for divorce and waiting for him to give a final blow when I suddenly felt…rain. Wait, what? Was I in heaven? I looked around groggily and saw Stein standing over me.

Dammit. I was in hell.

But I felt someone pull me to my feet, and upon realizing it was Maka, the world began to slide back into place. I was still in the school, still alive, and it was the sprinkler system I had felt, not rain. The boys seemed jarred, looking around as if unsure of what had happened. I was drenched to the bone, but couldn't really care much about that while I was convinced a piece of the floor was sticking out of my head, what with the throbbing increasing with every dull heart beat.

"Where the hell did you go?" I heard myself say, looking at Stein.

"I felt a witch's presence in the city and went to investigate." He said solemnly, which I found odd.

There was something off about his lack of a slasher's grin or ever-faithful office chair. I looked at the front door, and the goop that had glued the doors shut was half-disintegrated. My groggy mind figured that whatever had made the ground shake was what had destroyed the barrier.

"How'd you know we were in trouble?" Leah asked, rubbing her side.

"L.J.'s collar detected that her heart rate and adrenaline levels were off the charts." Stein replied, waving a small device around.

My eyes narrowed. Of course.

"The other teachers are already taking care of the other students. That witch must've lowered her soul protect just long enough to infect the air conditioning system with a hormonal manipulative substance. We'll send out a search, but she's probably long gone by now."

"And?" Maka too had noticed Stein's unusually somber attitude. "What else happened?"

Stein crushed up his cigarette, and my eyes grew wide. Now it was serious.

"Come with me."

We followed Stein outside, Maka supporting me and the boys still looking dazed. When we were on the front steps, we saw it. A large symbol of some sort of bird, with its wings outstretched and its head tilted back was stamped on the very front of the school.

"Oh my god."

"That's not all." Stein said, hands in his pockets. "Something was stolen from DWMA while we were all kept busy."

"What?"

"A special serum capable of depowering and, if taken in extreme dosage, killing Forces."

This was just not my month.

**Okay, bear in mind that I wrote more or less the last four pages all in one night, and at 4 AM. I'm going to get some sleep now, and look over it again when I wake up, and edit it if necessary. But right now, I just wanna ship something out so you know I'm still alive. Next one'll be up in a couple days, once I catch up in homework. Oh, I might be drawing a picture of L.J. one of these days and posting it up as my profile pic, FYI. And while you're there, take one of my polls! I'll change them every now and then to get your opinions. Hugs! OriginalAlienSuperspy. Sooo…sleepy… **


	6. How Does It Always Happen To Me?

**Oh. Hot. Damn. I haven't updated in forever. (Shields self) Don't hurt me! My computer went down and I had to beg my friend (who now thinks I'm crazy) to let me use her computer. But to show my apologies, this is a super long chapter!**

**Thanks for all the wonderful support and all the love, guys! I also had AIMS exams (state test that determines the smart to dumb people ratio in Arizona high schools), online school to work in-and lets face it, I'm lazy. Alrighty then, lets get rollin'!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned anything, L.J. would be a canon character. **

"Hey, Mikey. Yeah, it's me Junior. Uh, hey, where are you? _Spain?_ Why the hell wasn't I- no, never mind, that's not why I called. Look, did you hear about the stolen serum thing here in Nevada? …_No_, I did not get my ass kicked! What does Damian know, he was in the nurse's office when it happened! Ugh, anyways, are you okay? …No, it's just…has anything weird happened lately? Like, weirder than usual? …Okay, well I want you guys to be careful. Stick together, you know. …Mikey, just shut up and be serious. And tell the other Jr. Forces to be on the lookout, right? I don't _know _what for! Please, just, Mikey…okay. And I need a favor…" I sighed and adjusted my position against the payphone in front of the school.

It was always difficult to hold a mature conversation with my cousins. For guys who were supposedly the sons of Love, they weren't very sensitive. However, as Life's daughter and someday replacement, I was forced to deal with them often. Not fun. Fun at a party maybe, but not fun when having intelligent conversations.

"I need you to sneak into the archives-and don't give me that, you guys are the best thieves around, I've got the missing journals to prove it. Look, just find out if there's any more of this serum for me, okay? I don't _want _to talk to my mom about it! Like you're one to judge who needs family counseling! Ugh. Can I talk to Pete or something? Okay, thanks man. Love you too. Bye." I sighed as I hung up and covered my face with my hands.

"There isn't anymore serum."

"Ack!" I jumped violently, banging my knee into the telephone pole and leaving an incriminating dent in it.

Smooth. Kid was standing behind me calmly with his hands in his pockets.

"Don't sneak up on people. With that getup, they'll think there's a vampire loose on the city."

I could've sworn I saw his eyebrow twitch upwards ever so slightly, and did a little hoorah of victory inside.

"Our parents only made one sample of the serum." Kid went on, choosing to ignore me. "It' was experimental. They saw how powerful Forces could be, and made it in case any Force, including themselves, were ever compromised. However, seeing how the serum itself was equally dangerous, they locked it away beneath DWMA.

"I suppose your father told you that." I said, folding my arms and attempting to lean on the now-crooked pay phone.

"No. I went to the library."

Oooh, the _library. _Where all the _smart _people go…to read…

"Nice. So, was there something you wanted? Or were you just, you know, standing there?" I was being a bitch, I knew it-but there was a lethal serum out there, all my fellow Jr. Forces were either unsupervised in England or scattered across the world with little to no contact with us-I was on edge.

And it was a hard edge to be on, considering my own cousins were in Spain and didn't even tell me. If something _did _happen, would we even know it before the balance slipped? Or would it be months before we realized that one of our own were gone? And then here I was, in Nevada instead of England like I should be, and engaged. Where did it all go down hill? Oh, when I snuck out. Karma's a real bitch. And I should know, I had to baby sit her daughter two summers back.

"I would like to apologize."

Heh? I took a moment to register what he was going on about. For what? Oh, for bashing my head into the ground. As a matter of fact, last night's usual night terror of Stein chasing after me with a scalpel had been replaced with a fever dream about DWMA floor tiles cannon-balling off a diving board and into my forehead. But despite what Mike says, no, I did _not _have my ass kicked! Seriously!

"Uh, it's no problem." I said awkwardly. "After all, I'm all healed up, so…"

Sure, I had permanent stains of my own blood on my cashmere sweater, but other than that, I was fine. Being an immortal didn't mean we didn't feel pain. We felt it. We probably felt it in more…_detail_ than humans, because our nerves were more sensitive and closer together. We still suffered blood loss. But the cuts would heal up pretty fast. Unfortunately, living forever meant the psychological pain _never_ went away. Ever. Sometimes I wondered if that was why my mom was so distant.

"I'm glad." He put his hands back in his pockets, looking as if he had absolutely no idea what to do next.

I didn't blame him-the longest time we'd been in the same room together was when he was redecorating the entrance hall with my blood. Can you spell awkward? I mean, _I _would, but Kid might realize it only has seven letters. **(A/N you just went back to check, didn't you? XD)**

"Junior!"

_'Oh thank gods.' _I praised silently as the awkward silence was broken.

Marie came over, looking slightly exhausted. I figured she'd gotten lost on the way here. The first day I met her, she'd been in the locker room looking for the teacher's lounge. Which was two floors above us.

"Thank goodness I found you!" She said cheerily. "Stein asked me to come find you. He says that you're ready to get the tracker removed."

"R-really?" I asked excitedly. "But my time limit isn't up yet."

"He said that you'd learned your lesson. And that it was already full of enough data."

Fwah! ? You mean it was all just a ruse to get the scratch on my blood sugar levels! ? How did I not see that coming! ? There was no shame in admitting the guy was surely a worthy adversary…

"Thanks…" I muttered, trying to keep the irritation from seeping into my voice when I noticed her looking kinda sadly at me. "Is there something wrong?"

Her expression cleared up and she shook her head. "Sorry, I was just thinking of how lucky you are to be so young and already engaged to a good guy."

And the awkwardness was back. Thanks a lot, Gods.

"…I'm gonna go now."

* * *

"And there we go." Stein put the damned ring of metal on the table.

"So…why'd you decide to shorten my punishment?" I asked wryly, watching my nemesis out of the corner of my eye.

"Oh, I'd already collected the maximum amount of information available for this model. It was designed for the wolves I worked on, so your data filled it pretty fa-"

"AHA!" I pointed at him. "So you don't deny that you took advantage of the situation to get the DL on my brain functions!"

"Eh?" Stein lit a new cigarette.

Yeah, light 'em up all you want. The more you smoke, the less time I'll have to be afrai- _troubled _by your existence…

"Hm…no, not really." He said, swiveling around. "And?"

"Uh." I sweat-dropped.

I hadn't thought that far ahead.

"I…oh, whatever." I hopped down from the counter and immediately found myself re-acquainted with my old friend, the DWMA floor.

Hey, they cleaned up that coffee stain under the desk!

"Oh, I forgot-you'll be a little disoriented an hour after removing the collar."

"I hate you."

* * *

"This is so cool!" Damian gushed in weapon form as we trudged down the road.

"Hm." I looked around at the soft clear skies and rolling hills.

I'd never really been to the country. In fact, I'd never really been out of Life Metropolis. My mom was kinda protective (i.e. paranoid) about me leaving the Greater London county and was reluctant to let me go abroad. If DWMA was focused on collecting the souls of the dead, we were about protecting the souls of the living. I wasn't sure if there was a big difference, but mom said there was. Sure-I bet she just didn't want people to think she and Lord Death had anything in common. We didn't collect kishin eggs at the Institute, though-not deliberately, at least. Mom was more about not interfering too much with the workings and cycles of the world unless absolutely necessary. If you ask me, that's what she and Death clashed about the most. We were more of a shelter, a network for chosen humans and resident godlings. Maybe this more chill concept of work was connected to how a student of Life was more likely to party on their Saturday nights. Seriously, ask any of the kids _here_ where the action'll be this weekend, and they'll point you to the sparring room. No joke. But anyways, a few months of promising not to do anything stupid, this was our first mission for DWMA. It wasn't required, considering my mom would probably die if I told her I was working to make my weapons into Death Scythes, but what can I say? I wanted to finally get out- even if it did mean that a DWMA escort was camped out only ten miles back.

"Oy L.J.? You awake?" John prompted.

"Eh?"

"I _think _this is it."

"Oh." I turned and looked around at where the road had taken us- at the charred remains of a town that had been burnt to the ground.

"You may be right." I stepped over the debris.

It looked like it may have once been a quaint country town, but now it was in shambles. Glass was broken all over the cobbled street, wood splintered and the air completely still.

"Damn, something just wiped this place off the map. But who'd do that to an out of the way place like this?" Damian asked.

"Someone who thought no one would miss it, maybe."

We explored the scorched remains, but couldn't find a single clue towards what caused the destruction. Eventually, it began to grow dark.

"Ugh, fantastic. Well I guess we can-"

_Creak._

"Did you hear that?" I asked, looking around and squinting through the darkness.

"You mean that creepy noise in the middle of the spooky ghost town at nightfall?" John asked.

_Creeeeak…_

"I didn't hear anything." Damian said quickly.

I rolled my eyes. "I've been having the feeling that we were being followed, but was waiting for them to make a move."

"Gee, thanks for the heads up."

"Hey, I've been carrying your lazy metallic asses all this time now, the least you can do is stay on guard."

Damian and John's weapon forms were dual swords, about 3 feet long each. I spun the daggers around my palm before turning to the small home (which had been reduced to a smoldering shack) and stepped towards it cautiously. I peered inside, wishing I'd brought a damn flashlight as the sunset stained the sky red. Each step made the thin floorboards creak beneath my feet.

"You hear that?" John whispered. "Listen."

I held my breath and listened. And sure enough, I could hear the sound of faint, but ragged breathing.

"Hello?" My eyes began to adjust, and there in the dark, I caught some movement.

When I moved closer, I realized that it was a girl. Possibly my age, with bright green eyes and hair that brushed her shoulders. Her arms were encircling her knees as she stared blankly at the wall and slowly bobbed back and forth.

"Hello." I said as kindly as possible, "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

The girl didn't look at me, just kept on rocking.

"I'm L.J. I'm from the DWMA. Do you know what happened here?"

"They told me you would help." She said finally, wringing her hands. "Told me to go to you. But I don't like going out where I can be seen."

"There are other survivors?" I asked, looking around. "Other people from your town?"

The girl shook her head. "We're all that's left."

Trying not to be creeped out by the girl's monotone, I held out my hand. She flinched back.

"Were you here when this happened?"

"Not all of us. Only Kira was here. We came afterwards. When everyone was gone. Kira hid. We waited with her for them to come back, but no one did."

My eyes looked from side to side uneasily, as if something in the shadows held the answer to what this girl was talking about.

"Can I... talk to Kira?" I asked finally.

The girl shook her head. "She's too scared."

All of a sudden she grew stiff, and looked around. "It's dark. They always come after dark."

"They? Who are 'they'? Are they…the ones with you?"

She shook her head. "These ones patrol throughout the streets. Every night."

"L.J…." Damian's voice said shakily. "This girl is creeping me out..."

"Come on, let's just get you out of here." I took her wrist gently.

"They won't let anyone leave." Kira shook her head frantically, tugging me into the shadows. "We need to hide."

I tightened my grasp on the blades. "You go and hide where you usually do. When I say it's safe, and _only when, _come out and I'll get you out of here. Is this you're-uh, Kira's only home? No family?"

"Kira's from San Diego, but she had to come here."

"So that's a yes?"

"Her family is… gone."

_Snap._

I heard footsteps and rustling outside and lowered my voice.

"Go and hide now. Stay quiet, and don't move." I turned to go outside, but Kira clutched the sleeve of my old Institute uniform (I'd taken to wearing it, despite the school swap-it got me a couple dirty looks).

"Don't go! They- _Oh,_ just let her go!" My eyes grew large as her tone completely changed and the small, shaking girl became an obnoxious teen. "We need to hide, and if she wants to bleed, let her! Have fun dying, lady."

And with that, the girl stormed down into what I presumed was an intact cellar.

"…I think she has some psychological disorder." John said finally.

"I do say, thanks for the bloody newsflash, Holmes!" Damian hissed as we crept to the broken doorway.

We peered about in the dark, only seeing the stillness of the buildings. But I could've sworn I heard footsteps… I had inched a little further out when a strange whirring swung through the air. I jumped back, just in time for something stark white to spiral past and stab itself into a nearby tree.

"What in the hell-!" Upon closer inspection, I realized it was… "A sharpened bone?"

"Whoa…that is hard core…"

"Thank you Damian, for complimenting the enemy."

"I'm just saying-"

"Get down!"

I sprung out of the way of more bones, and turned in the direction from which they had come.

"Oh snap."

What he said. Because at that moment, maybe a dozen _walking skeletons _were advancing upon us-and apparently using their own parts as projectiles. I spun the daggers through my fingers.

"I think we've found our home wreckers."

"Agh, good god man, was that a _pun! _There are NO _puns_ on this team!"

"I don't judge _your_ one-liners!"

I tuned them out before jumping into the fray. Dodging their blows was easy enough, and the skeletons would fall to pieces with every kick or slash. It was a mere ten minutes later when I stood before a stack of bones. My partners morphed back into human form, Damian crouching down to inspect the pile.

"That was lame."

"Yeah. Pretty anti-climatic, if you ask…uh…" John stepped back as the pile began to shift and move. "This looks ominous."

The bones were becoming a huge mound, lopsided and uneven, but with a definite and threatening shape. Basically, if Kid saw it, he'd faint. It mounted its jumbled figure on an arm made of femurs and ribs so that it stood ten feet taller than us.

"Damn."

Apparently something dead couldn't die. Who would've thunk?

It swung it's spiked arm at us-John and I leapt back, but Damian was slammed into an old wall, which crumbled and broke upon impact.

"Hey!"

The creature turned its attention on him-perhaps it heard Damian's fickle comment, despite its lack of ears-raising its arm to attack again, I thrust my hand out to John.

"John! Let's go, Soul Resona-"

_'Swish_….**BAM**,'

A slight whistling rung through the air, followed by an intense explosion of heat and fire. I immediately shielded John, instantly feeling a particularly pointy rib bury itself in my shoulder. When the haze cleared, I saw the bones were nothing more than shattered fragments.

"Damian!" I shouted, swiping at the smoke.

"Here!" I heard his voice call gruffly, and saw that he'd ducked behind a mound of rock.

"What the hell was that?" John asked as I yanked the rib painfully out of me and watched the gaping wound close itself up.

Aw, well. Another blouse ruined.

I turned, and dropped my arms to my sides. "You're joking."

The girl stood there, arm raised-well, it _had _been her arm, but it had been morphed into what looked like a miniature launcher.

"Hello there. I'm Kira. Sorry about before- the voices can get kinda protective sometimes. Are you okay?" I blinked multiple times.

"W-why didn't you do that sooner! You could've left this place!"

Kira looked puzzled for a moment. "The voices told me not to. I had to wait."

Damian, who lay on the ground, was repeatedly hitting his head against the rock.

I didn't blame him. Because everyone knows a psychologically unstable chick that can turn into a firearm is a sign of the apocalypse.

* * *

"So…" I said, sitting in the nurse's office. "What's wrong with her?"

"Kira Aslen has secondary schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder." Nurse Nygen said, speaking through her bandages.

"What does that mean. Use one-syllable words." I said brilliantly, mournfully plucking at my bloodstained shirt.

"It means she hears voices and has multiple identities."

"How'd she get that way?" John asked, leaning on the back of my chair.

"It's not easy to say. Doctors have been debating over schizophrenia, its causes, and whether or not it even exists for years."

"Well, I'd say it exists. A few hours ago she was about to speak in tongues and have her head spin around her head, now look!" Damian pointed at Kira, who was humming and coloring.

"I'd say it's the trauma of being the only survivor of that town that caused her to develop the disorders." Nygen sighed, putting the clipboard down and picking up a small bottle. "I'm giving her a medication that should help control the mood swings and personality changes. I can't make any promises, but so far she's stayed within her current, and apparently true identity."

"Do you have any idea what she just said?" Damian asked me.

"Nuh huh. My body's still generating new blood for the gallon I lost on my shirt." I said, clutching my dizzy head.

It was a white shirt, okay? I'm _upset_!

Nygen didn't get to reply, because right then the door opened. It revealed Liz, who was unceremoniously dragging Kid, who now had spirals for eyes.

"Oh wow." I blinked. "What happened?"

"He broke a vase."

"Symmetrical?"

"Yeah."

"Ouch."

"L.J.! Psst!" Kira waved me over to the other side of the office, Damian and John following.

"What's up?"

"Who's he?" Kira nodded to Kid, who was laying limply in one of the beds as if he'd bravely took a hit for some small child.

"That's Death the Kid, Death's son." I couldn't keep the boredom from seeping into my voice.

It was nothing personal. It's just that he reminded me of what a suckish situation I was in. I was free until I turned 18 and the bam-I'd be living the life of a person who irons their jeans and eats cookies over the sink. But I'd be like this even if Kid wasn't OCD. I'd find some flaw of his and completely spazz over it-got that sweet trait from my mom. She and I had independence issues, if you will. I _needed _freedom. Being punted over to some random guy would freak me out even if it was a Prince Charming riding a white steed.

"He's kinda cute." Kira said carelessly, plopping back onto her bed.

"Huh?" I looked at her as if she'd said he came from an alien race- which frankly, I wouldn't put past her.

"Oh, you don't know? Kid's L.J.'s f-"

"Friend." I cut John off sharply. "He's my… friend."

I died a little bit inside while saying that. Just thought you all should know. Might have to scrub my tongue later. But I did not need a mentally unstable girl judging me! Yes, my pride is huge. But that makes it all the more worth defending!

"Could you introduce me?" Kira asked hopefully.

"Er…" I jerked out of my jumbled thoughts and looked over at Kid, with his eyes rolling back in his head.

"M-maybe tomorrow."

And I keep digging my ditch deeper and deeper. It'll be my grave before this is over.

And so was the day that Kira Aslen was enrolled into DWMA, taking a dormitory in the basement next door to Chrona. Hey, they could be unstable together! Or at least I thought. Apparently not too many of the other kids liked being around her too much, what with her suddenly talking to herself every now and again. When she wasn't babbling to herself, she was actually kinda pleasant to be around, but that only happened when she was completely at ease. Secretly, I thought she was forgetting her pills on purpose. But that was just me.

* * *

"L.J.!" I turned and saw Kira jogging over to me.

"Hey Kira." I nodded.

"So you're going to introduce me to Kid today?"

"Uh…sure…once we find him."

"He's right over there." Kira pointed over to the bulletin board, where Kid was examining the new missions.

After my last mission, I hadn't been planning on going over there in a while. Before long I would have enough yahoos to film my own asylum-based sitcom.

"Alrighty then." I sighed. "What's the harm?"

I should know better than to tempt fate like that.

"Oy, Kid." I walked over to him.

"Good morning, L.J." Kid said, looking away from the board. "I see you're well."

That means I looked nice, right? Or maybe just healthy. Ugh, did this guy ever stop talking like a politician?

"Uh, I don't think you've met Kira yet, the new student?" I asked, motioning to her.

"Very nice to meet you." Kid had probably heard of her condition, which is probably the only reason he didn't spazz at the sight of Kira's uneven highlights.

I did notice his twitching, though.

"Hi." Kira smiled back widely. "Do you wanna go out?"

"Eh!" How my neck could support my eyes now that they were ten times their usual size was beyond me as Kid looked completely stunned.

As if he didn't notice the hordes of fan girls he had. But still, Kira was definitely the first girl to be so direct.

"…" He blinked and looked at me as if unsure of whether he expected me to save him or to be upset.

Why would I be upset? What was there to be upset about? I mean, it was totally cool with me. I mean, it's not like we were a _thing. _Or an _item, _or anything. We were just engaged. …I had no idea how weird that sounded until now.

…Anyways…Kira was looking at him patiently.

"Ah…actually, Kira, I'm engaged." He finally blurted out.

_Smack!_

Scratch that, my eyes went 20x their usual size. And my jaw dropped to the floor, because Kira had just slapped him clear across the face.

"W-what did you do that for!" I exclaimed, watching a red handprint develop across one of Kid's cheeks.

"The voices told me that it was an appropriate action." Kira said, looking at me as though it were obvious. "Let's go."

And she promptly marched down the hall, head held high.

"Kira!" I was about to go after her when Kid held his arm out to stop me.

"L.J., wait."

Uh oh.

"Y-yeah?" I asked, rubbing the back of my neck nervously.

"Can you hit me on the other side? It won't be symmetrical otherwise."

…It was officially official. I was surrounded by crazies.

…Ugh.

* * *

Catching up with Kira wasn't hard. I just had to follow the path of broken objects and confused people. I finally found her walking down the trail that led to secondary campus. Thank goodness-the only things for her to smash out there were rocks and trees.

"Kira!" I hesitated before calling her name, but I knew I couldn't let an girl like that roam alone.

That would be like setting a violent duck loose on an unsuspecting crowd. The madness and dark hilarity that would ensue would be devastating.

"L.J." Kira smiled, and stopped to wait for me. "You wouldn't believe how many weird people go here!"

You have no idea.

"Uh, Kira, I have a confession to make." I sighed, rubbing my arm. "I'm the one who's engaged to Kid."

"Oh." Kira blinked. "Okay."

Say what now?

"You're not mad?"

"No."

"Then why did you hit Kid?"

"The voices thought the stripes in his hair were annoying."

Not going to comment on that.

"So you're not upset that-"

"It's no big deal. I mean, I may have been holed up in that hell for a few days, but even I get that a girl who talks to voices isn't exactly desirable."

I wasn't sure what to say.

"Kira, you're um, a really nice girl. And one day, you're going to meet a guy who understands your…extra qualities."

Kira brightened. "And maybe he'll have voices of his own for us to talk to together!"

"Uh, yeah…that could be…yeah…" I was so out of my league right now.

But looking, up, I'd realized we'd walked in a circle through the trees, and were approaching DWMA's main campus.

"You think we could find Kid?" Kira asked. "If I'm going to be going here, I think I should apologize."

"Sure." I nodded. "Hey Kira, are you okay? I mean, you did lose your parents only a short while ago."

"Huh? No I didn't. I'm an orphan. I get shuffled from place to place. I hadn't been in that place for very long before it happened. My new family was some doctor who was going to try to help me and his mom, who lived with us." Kira said. "I feel bad about what happened. I already told Lord Death everything I know, but when I heard the screaming, I just hid. I don't know what happened. I have a hard time remembering a lot of things too."

"Oh. I get it."

No, I didn't. But I did have a lot more respect for Kira now.

"Ooh, there's Kid! Hey, KID!" Kid looked like he truly wanted to pretend he hadn't heard her, but I motioned for him to come over.

"Yes?" He asked once he'd made his way to us-I noticed he was standing out of arm's reach of Kira, and looking at her wearily.

"Kid, I'd like to say I'm sorry for hitting you. My voices overreacted, and I will give them a good talking to."

Oy. I resisted the urge to smack myself.

"I'd like to apologize to you too, L.J."

"Oh?" I turned to her.

"You saved us, and we're very grateful. I had no idea Kid was with anyone, and you've been so nice to me." Kira folded her arms behind her back thoughtfully. "After all, you two must really be in love to get engaged this young!"

…

And thus ensued the longest awkward silence ever recorded in history.

"…I'm gonna go now."

I needed to take a nap.

**TEN PAGES! WOO-HOO! I said I was sorry for being late, so here you go! Sorry if this story is becoming an OC overload, but Kira will play a definite part in the story! Everything will make sense later on, promise! I'll edit this later-I wrote this all in the late night-early morning time frame, so please excuse any writing mistakes.**

**So how is L.J. doing? I don't want her to come off as judgmental or bitchy, but I want it to be made clear that she is most definitely **_**not **_**perfect-but still making some steady progress.**

**Next up:**

**Chapter 7: The Very Late Valentine's Special.**

**So get reviewin'**


	7. A Message From The Author

Hey, OriginalAlienSuperspy here.

Okay, just a little announcement. No, I'm not announcing haitus. Relax. However, it has come to my attention that a few people in my life (coughmysisterscough) have found my notes for the story, which was complete with outlines, quotes, plans, and rough draft chapters. Sigh…yup, and some spoilers have been leaked onto the internet. Tvtropes, to be exact.

I figured you should hear it from me first. Now I'm honored and excited as anything to have a page for Black and Gold on TvTropes, all the spoilers are censored, but to all those who check it out, please, _please_ think twice before choosing to look at the spoilers. It'll **really** ruin the story.

But to all those who just want to check out the page, or even contribute, the spoilers are hidden, and it is safe for you to read. The link didn't show up, so just google search "'black and gold' tropes" and you should find it. Thanks!


	8. The Very Late Valentine's Special

**Ch. 7-The Very Later Valentine's Special**

**Yes, I know I'm over a month late. But I already outlined this, so gosh darnit, I'm posting it!**

**So anyways, I'm back, and on spring break! And as I promised, I've brought a fresh new chapter with me.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except maybe L.J., Mary, Isaac, Damian, John, Adam, Leah, and well-everyone else you don't recognize, minus Kira. Kira belongs to Midnight.**

**BE WARNED: This was written under the influence of high amounts of caffeine.**

"Kiiid! There's a package for you!" Patti sang, springing into the living room.

"Huh?" Kid retracted the measuring tape as he finished aligning one of the portraits.

Patti set a basket down on the table, which was filled with cookies.

"There's a card…" Liz said, picking the small scrap off the table. "'To: Kid, Happy Valentines Day! L.J.' Huh, I didn't realize you two were that close. You went to see the wedding planner with her yesterday, didn't you?"

Kid was quiet, staring at the basket pensively.

"Uh…Kid? You gonna share?" Patti prodded.

Kid silently, squinted at the cookies. Each and every one had perfectly aligned chocolate chips, the edges all evenly trimmed.

"I get it." He said finally. "She's trying to poison me."

And with that, he picked up the basket and chucked the whole thing into the garbage can.

* * *

"So the meeting with the wedding planner didn't go very well, huh?" Leah asked, feet propped on the table as she did her nails.

"Ugh…" I groaned in response, head buried in the couch. "I think the planner is gonna need therapy. As will I before this week's over."

"What happened?" Mary prompted, digging around in the kitchen.

"Well…it started nicely enough, with Kid saying he'd rather die then have a cake with less than eight layers. Then he wanted to know if the venue floor had been 'marble tested' to make sure it was built on an even foundation. He was just getting into the basics of color-coordination when the wedding planner started to cry." I recounted dryly.

"And what did you do?" She asked, now rifling inside of the fridge.

The way she said it sounded innocent enough, but I knew her well enough to know that under that sweet tone she was _really _saying: 'And you expect me to believe you had nothing to do with it?'

"The man's crazy, Mary!" I ranted, sitting upright. "He wanted _chocolate _cake! Do you realize-I will _not _get married against my will, and on top of that, have _chocolate!"_

Okay, it's not that I hated chocolate-it was cool in moderation, but after a while it just starts to taste bad to me. It seemed that Kid and I really had nothing in common, right down to our desert preferences.

_'Ding-dong.'_

Leah tilted her head to the door. "Expecting anyone?"

"No." I shook my head. "It can't be the guys. They'd just barge in."

I pushed myself off the sofa and over to the door, undoing the deadbolt and swinging it open. I immediately regretted it, and lunged the door shut again. Unfortunately, someone had stuck their foot in the way, so it just bounced off.

"You'd better be ready to lose that foot." I said dangerously, ready to lop it off with my lethal door-slamming skills.

I was about to condemn that shoe and possibly kill the door in the process when I felt the force of more than one person push it open again.

"Now that's just not nice, Junior."

"I'm not nice. Deal with it." I snapped. "Better yet, _go home._"

Three nearly identical boys with pale strawberry blonde hair and strong builds were standing on my front step, grinning in the sort of way that made you want to check your car for bombs.

"Hey, now. After all, _you _called _us."_ The boy in the middle said, leaning on the doorframe.

Maybe if I could slam the door now, it would hit him in the face…

"And of course we want to visit our _favorite _cousin on this _special _day."

Special day? Good lord, they were finally going to kill me.

"Oh my god!" Leah waddled off the sofa as best she could with wet toenails and managed to trap my cousins in a gripping hug.

"Pete. Joey. Mike." I folded my arms. "What do you want?"  
"Nothing really." Joey said, cracking his neck back into place as Leah released him. "Are you still mad about us going to Spain without telling you? Look, I promise, next time we take a vacation we'll call you from the airport and let you know."

I was about to rampage about how he'd completely missed the point, but I refused to supply them with more ammunition by pissing me off further.

"I know there's no more serum, guys. So whatever you found in the archives, you don't- what's that?" I backed away and Pete shoved a tattered old book in my face, which gave my cousins the opportunity to step inside the apartment.

"A journal your mom kept. It covers the time of the serum's creation." He said as I took it gingerly. "Thought you might find it interesting."

"Thanks." I said flatly.

A ticket to the inside of my mother's mind was not the sort of gift I relished, but it was better than that snake in my backpack they'd given me last year.

"Are you leaving now?" I asked impatiently.

Mike tried and failed to look genuinely hurt. "Now Junior. We came all this way to visit. Don't think we'd leave without meeting your new boyfriend."

I nearly choked to death on my own tongue. "_What?"_

"You don't know what day it is, do you?" Joey sighed dramatically, as if I was a little kid again, so naïve and ignorant.

"Tuesday?" I answered stupidly.  
Joey blinked. "No. Valentine's Day."

My heart stopped. Now, most girls hate Valentine's Day because they're bitter. Because it's a "Hallmark Holiday." Because it's tacky, or they just got dumped, or something stupid like that. But no, _I _hated this cursed day because my cousin's, being sons of Love, _always _came around to torture me on Valentine's Day. Always.

"Actually, we're touched that you didn't flee the country or anything this year, cuz." Mike said, patting me on the shoulder. "You would've put us through the trouble of activating that tracking device in your molar."

My eyes bugged out and I was about to reach into my mouth and yank out my teeth when my cousin's laughter stopped me.

"You're so gullible, L.J." Pete chuckled. "That's why we love visiting you the most."

Yeah. Great. I feel so loved. If it wasn't already apparent, my childhood was a little bit stressful.

My cousins had been here for literally five minutes and I was already prepared to throw myself off the nearest building. It wouldn't kill me, but maybe a couple hours of unconsciousness would be a sweet escape. Somehow, in the lull of my own daily activity, what with me looking out for Kira, dealing with crying wedding planners and missing serums, I'd completely filtered out all the clashing colors and girlish squeals that usually accompanied the week of February 14th. If I _had _known, I'd be shivering in an igloo somewhere in Alaska, eating seal meat and melted ice for the rest of the month just to remain hidden.

Because that's how much I didn't want to be with my cousins.

"L.J.?" I heard John's voice as he and Damian appeared at the door. "We've got to get to school."

School! Yes! Sweet freeeeeeedom! I was about to break into song, but restrained myself.

"Yeah, school. See ya." I saluted my cousins mockingly and grabbed my bag (I'd check it for snakes later) and heading for the door.

"You're not cutting?" Mike asked. "Our little Junior really _has _grown up!"

If he weren't immortal, I would have killed him. Right there. I would've gotten the umbrella from the corner, shoved it down his throat, and then opened it. But instead I said something I shouldn't have,

"Nope. The boys have a soccer team today, and we don't want to miss it."

Apparently it had started with Damian calling Black Star a spazz (pot calling the kettle black, if you ask me), and it all went downhill from there.

"Ooh, sounds fun. We'll come too."

"Yeah, we don't mind tagging along." Pete said, throwing an arm around me. "After all, we came here to see you."

I made a sound that sounded like something between "No way" and "Help".

And they ignored me. Bastards.

* * *

Growing up with Pete, Joey and Mike was not fun. Peter was the smarter of the three-but he used his intellect for evil. He usually dressed the most casually, in a white t-shirt and jeans. Joey was the complete idiot of the group. He acted rashly and impulsively, and never thought before he spoke. He was the easiest to confuse, but impossible to predict. In many ways, he was the most dangerous of them all. He wore black leather and a bunch of metal rings on his fingers, but despite the badass wardrobe, he was like a rubber ball. Hyper, crazed, and useless for anything other than fun antics and entertainment. Mike was debatably the most mature, but not by much. He knew how to get inside your head, confuse you, and mix you up. A sophist, in other words. It was almost not worth arguing with him-too exhausting. Every now and then, he'd get this little twinkle in his eyes that if you were smart, you run the hell away from. They all represented three sides of Love. Peter was the rational side of love. Joey was fluffy wild side of love-the sort that makes you stupid and blind. Mike was the passionate side-like infatuation, only deeper. I'd say sexual, but that would make me throw up. As sons of Love, they somehow managed to appear and disappear whenever they wanted. They gathered out of nowhere, and scattered into nowhere when they needed to, which is how they got their notorious reputation as thieves. They had a penchant for shiny things, but mainly I'd find my more embarrassing belongings missing whenever they came around. Thus, I'd stopped using journals when I was five, and never wrote the names of my crushes on my notebooks like most girls do. In fact, I'd made up my own frickin' _language _of symbols and pictographs to keep them from reading over my shoulder. Speaking of crushes, I'd once mentioned how I'd never had a real boyfriend before. Well, it was because of _them. _The three little cupids who were more like demons to me than anything else, and made scaring away any potential dates for me one of their favorite hobbies. They themselves never had trouble with girls. I mean, being who they were, they gave off this aura that made a lot of girls swoon over them. Including my friends. It was a comfort to know that at least Adam and Isaac hated them even more than I did.

So I was sitting on the sidelines of the large field as my classmates zig-zagged over the grass. Apparently _regular _soccer was too boring for this place, so instead of one ball, there were four. It was very difficult to keep track of all the different strategies and sub-divisions, but I guess that was the point. At the moment, Adam and Isaac were playing, but their team was losing badly, considering all the guys were distracted. I looked at what they all seemed to be glaring at, and groaned out loud. Nearly all the girls, Leah and Mary included, were giggling and crowding around my cousins. I sighed heavily.

"Yo."

I looked up, and saw Kira plopping herself in the grass next to me.

"What are you doing?" I asked, surprised.

"Sitting. Ice cream?" She offered, and I took the cone gingerly (and it wasn't chocolate, _thank you very much_).

"No, I mean, why aren't you over there? With all the other girls melting over the three stooges?"

Kira glanced over in their direction, and shrugged. "Too many people."

Huh. I knew Kira's mind was a bit unhinged, what with her different disorders, but apparently schizophrenia made you immune to Love's power. Good to know.

"Plus, my voices told me to stay away from them." Kira said casually, as if she were speaking of the weather. "They said there was something wrong with them."

They had no idea just how right they were.

But still, it was curious that Kira, who knew nothing about what my cousins were, would know that they're presence was intoxicating. Almost as if these voices she heard were real. Only girls already in love, plus guys who didn't care about romance remained immune to Love's power, but apparently Kira's voices had protected her. In the game, John and Damian were secretly pushing their limits and playing pretty well, but Adam, Isaac, and the other guys kept fumbling. Black Star completely ignored the commotion going on in the sidelines, and apparently he was so determined to "be a star" that he was zipping around the field, playing at least ten positions at once so that the clumsiness of his teammates didn't slow him down. It didn't really surprise me that he wasn't bothered. He was too in love with himself already.

"Hey, cuz." Joey's voice stirred me.

I looked up, and saw him and Mike standing beside me. Pete didn't seem to mind keeping the other girls company, I suppose.

"What?" I asked boredly. "Leaving?"

"Nah. But your friends seem to be having a bit of trouble." Mike nodded to the game.

He said 'your friends' because even though he'd known Adam and Isaac for as long as I had (which had been my whole life), Mike was very aware of how hated he was. And he loved it. When you live to piss people off, Hate is a welcome friend. Ironic, isn't it?

"I wonder why." I said wryly. "What's up?"

"Don't say I never did anything for you." Mike said, pointing a finger at me.

"But you haven't." I said blankly.

He ignored me and trudged down the hill.

"What're you going to do?" I called after him.

I saw him wave to Damian, who called a time-out.

"What's going on…" I murmured to myself.

My cousin and Damian joining forces? If that isn't a sign of the apocalypse, it should be.

Damian and Mike did some weird dude-handshake-fist pump nonsense before Mike began talking. I couldn't hear what he said, but Damian looked ecstatic.

"So who's your friend, Junior?" Joey prodded me.

"Eh?" I looked up absently. "Oh. Joey, Kira, Kira, Joey."

Joey smiled, and immediately I could smell faint traces of some cologne-like scent. It didn't do much for me, but it drove other girls wild. Kira wrinkled her nose and recoiled slightly-her voices were probably sending off alarms and bells in her brain.

"I gotta go." She said finally, standing up and walking away.

Joey tilted his head to the side like a confused dog. "What was that all about?"

I looked at him boredly. "No idea."

"Joey! Come sit with us!" I heard a girl call.

"Yeah, Joey. Go. Right now." I pressed.

Joey was obviously troubled. "I think I'm gonna go see if she's okay."

That said, he took off after Kira.

I _could _have told him that she was a type two schizophrenic.

I _could _have told him she had dissociative personality disorder.

I _should _have told him she could turn into a missile launcher.

But I didn't. Heh.

I stood up as Mike and John switched places on the field. What the hell?

All of the boys from that team were gathered around Damian, who was giving some motivational speech. I neared the edge of the field and stood beside John. Immediately, I could smell traces of a new smell. Mike was using his powers to rile up the players.

"What's going on?"

"They swapped me out with your cousin." John shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure that using your powers to make players more passionate about the game is cheating. Plus, Mike's not even a student here." I said wryly. "...He's not a student _anywhere,_ I don't think."

"Well, he's doing something, unless you wanna stop him."

I gaze over at the huddle of Damian's team. And began to catch pieces of his speech.

"Oh good lord."

"…playing in defiance of tyranny! You've come to fight as free men, and free men you are."

"Tell me he's not doing this." John buried his face in his hands.

"Will you fight? Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you may live at least a while."

One confused boy backed up slightly. "Damian, are you seriously-"

"Drunk people don't feel pain! And neither do Scottsmen!" Damian said, pointing at him.

"We're not S-"

"And he's the drunk one." John muttered.

"-And Adam here? Look at him. Just a nice kid from Cleveland-"

"Devon." Adam corrected, looking a little frightened.

"And I know when he's dying in his bed, many years from now, he'll be willing to trade, all his days, from this day, for one chance!"

"I actually don't ca-"

"Just one chance! To come back here, and tell our enemies, that they may take our lives, but they'll never be able to take our FREEDOM!" Damian plunged his fist, half-morphed into sword mode, into the air, and was accompanied by his teammates in a war cry.

The guys cheered, and charged back onto the field.

I looked at the same space in stunned silence.

"He just watched that movie last night, didn't he?"

"Yup."

"…We're going to forget that happened."

"Done."

I shook the memory from my head as I strode alongside the field, until I'd caught up to where Mike was playing defense.

"What was that?" I said, a little tiredly.

"Eh? I just told him to just say _something_ to help motivate the team. Didn't think he'd-well, it turned out well anyways."

"Turned out-? You cheated."

Mike looked at me, and shrugged. "Yeah. Probably. So?"

I opened my mouth, but no noise came out.

"You never used to care about that sort of thing, Junior. Guess you really have grown up." Mike said, intercepting a pass and lobbing it in the opposite direction. "Personally, it doesn't matter to me. But you might want to give some consideration to what you're doing."

"Pardon?"

"Look around you, L.J. When are you going to stop worrying about what your mother wants of you?"

"The hell is that supposed to mean! ?"

"Oh come on. After everything she's done, after all that's happened? You're still desperate for her approval. Just look at the stiff you've got for a date. That's not you. I love Aunt Life, but you've got to stop depending on others. You don't need it. I don't do what I'm told because I _can._ I'm a person. Just because I'm some _clone_ doesn't mean I'm a robot."

"You've-"

"Yeah, I've seen him. And he's a perfect gentleman. It's disgusting. He's a bit on the weird side, but-look L.J. It comes down to this, plain and simple. I want to be more than just a fragment. A piece of my mom. And I know you don't believe it, but we do care about you L.J."

"Really." I stated dubiously. "And you want be to do what? To lie, cheat and steal like _you_?"

"We only ever wanted you to be happy. To get an idea of what it's like to live by your own rules. Just how much are we supposed to sacrifice for the Balance?"

I was silent because I knew the answer: Everything. That was the job and curse of a Force and it's successor. To spend an eternity ensuring the survival of the mortal world, no matter the cost. As a daughter of Life, I was one of those who would bear that burden most. And I was already bearing it.

"…He's not a robot, you know."

"Sure he's not. He just worships the ground Death walks on and wants to be just like his daddy. You know there's no such thing as divorce in what you're doing, L.J. Has that occurred to you? It doesn't matter if he cheats, if he hurts you-you don't know how long forever is. I do."

I bit my lip. Mike may have looked eighteen or nineteen, but he was older than that. A lot older. And I knew he'd seen a lot of nasty things.

"What happened to you?" I asked finally. "I want you to be honest with me."

"And I want a statue of myself in town square, holding a saber and staring down danger, but we'll both have to move on."

"But-"

"If 'ifs' and 'buts' were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas, but there are some things you're not ready for. You're still just a kid." Mike said, cracking his back.

So he wasn't going to tell me anything. Fine.

"Mike!" One of the teammates called out.

"I'll see ya, Junior." Mike waved dismissively as he jogged off to the center of the field.

"Yeah…" I put my hands in my pockets and sighed.

What was I supposed to do? I'd always been the rebellious daughter, but I knew my duty. I would spend eternity maintaining the balance, taking care of the other Godlings, and frankly, married to Kid. The other Gods would look to us for guidance, leadership…I wasn't a responsible person, but I was starting to feel the heat. I'd never _really _wanted this. _She _was the smart one. _She _was the one everyone said would go places. But I was here instead. I was now expected to make the big sacrifices, my life was not my own. Instead, it symbolized life for the rest of the world. Ironic how whatever Force we embodied, was what we didn't have in our own lives. I had no Life of my own, just as Mike, Pete and Joey would never know Love or have a real relationship. They'd never know if the one they were with truly loved them, or was just around because of their powers. That was the curse of a Force. And as Jr. Forces were merely fragments of their parents, we were not spared. Jr. Forces were insurance policies for the balance. The original Forces realized that if they ever _were _killed in battle, then the balance would be in chaos. So they created us from themselves. We were less than clones. We were pieces of something that had once been whole. If an original Force was killed, we would step up and take their place. A piece substituting for a puzzle. It was just how our world worked. Sometimes we didn't come out right. It wasn't uncommon for Jr. Forces to buckle under pressure, run away, or even lose their minds. Like she did.

"L.J.?"

"Hm?" I woke from my brainstorming session and turned to see Kid standing awkwardly on the sidelines. "Hey."

"Hey." He returned. "I, uh…got a package in the mail today."

I blinked.

"Okay."

Was this some sort of 'what-I did-this-morning' game? I didn't get it.

"Uh…I got a newspaper that I don't remember ordering?" I said, confused. "I didn't read it though. John only wants the current events section and Damian reads it for the comics."

He looked just as perplexed as I did for a moment. What? Did I break a rule or something? Why couldn't the world make sense!

"Uh…Kid?" I asked, putting my hands in my pockets because they were starting the quiver. "I'm, uh sorry."

He looked surprised a moment, and opened his mouth to reply before I cut him off.

"I made things difficult for you when I shouldn't have. It's just that…ugh. I'm just sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry." He said finally, all of a sudden becoming interested in straightening out the clasps on his suit. "I understand."

It was then that I realized that he probably _did _understand. The only difference between him and me was that he took it the way a future God should. Head on.

"But we're still not getting chocolate cake." I warned.

"That's okay." I had the feeling he was smiling, but I was determined not to look at him.

"Right…well then, I…" I forced myself to look up. "What's that?"

Out of the trees, large clouds of blue smoke was wafting around the field, closing in on us. My mind began to fog up, and I began to feel a little dizzy.

"Not again." I muttered, watching as students backed away from the edges of the clearing.

"That witch must be around here somewhere!" Kid said, looking around. "But why would they come back? They got what they wanted."

Gee, maybe they wanted to see me get beat down again. But I didn't say that because my legs began to feel kinda shaky. The last time a smoke like this had invaded the school, I ended up having my head bashed against the entrance hall floor (probably killing what valuable brain cells I had in the process). But that mist had been orange. With this blue smoke, there was a stifling humidity. Breathing became difficult, and it was becoming hard to see through all the pastel clouds.

What was going on? Why was it so damn hot? And what the hell was my name?

My eyelids began to droop, and my movement became sluggish.

"Damian!" I shouted tiredly-he was the only one fast enough to maybe outrun the smoke. "Get out of here and warn the school!"

I don't know if he heard me or not, because that was when I blacked out.

* * *

"L.J.? L.J! Come on, wake up!"

I sat up groggily. "Ugh, I feel like I got drugged."

"Close." An arm reached out and I grabbed it, pulling myself up off the field.

Around me, people were beginning to wake up.

"You alright?" Pete asked, steadying me.

"Yeah. Great." I grumbled. "Where's Kid?"

"He woke up a little while ago and went to go find his father, I guess." Pete shrugged. "Joey and Kira are fine, they were in town when it happened. Damian managed to get to the school and warn everyone."  
"That's good." I nodded drowsily.

"It's really good, actually." Pete said, handing me a bottle of water.

"How so?"

"Because they caught her. They caught the witch that's been assaulting the school."

* * *

School was canceled for the rest of the day, because the teachers were interrogating the witch. She didn't have the serum on her, and from what I'd heard, she wasn't talking. Big surprise. Kid had come to see me after talking to his father, and told me what he knew. It was nice of him, I guess. I was a little envious of him, too. Kid was everything I wasn't. And his relationship with his father was more than I could ever dream to have with my mother. Mutual trust. My mom had practically kept me locked in Life Metropolis all my life, but Lord Death trusted Kid on some of his most important missions. Was it because Kid was more mature than me? Or because Lord Death was more confident than my mom? I sighed and sat on my bed back at the apartment, examining the tattered old diary my cousins had brought to me from the archives. Did I really want to read it? What would it solve? Why were my hands shaking? My mom and I never really saw eye-to-eye, even before the incident. But maybe by reading this, by invading the privacy she'd maintained for a century or more, I'd be able to understand. I'd find some clue as to what was happening. I placed the book on the counter.

'_Ding-dong.' _For the second time today, I opened the door.

Only this time I saw a delivery man in a white uniform, holding a basket.

"What's this?" I asked, taking it from him.

"Delivery from Gallow Manor."

That was Kid's place. Of course his house would have it's own title.

I took the basket and removed the covering, and saw that it was filled with cookies. There wasn't any note, though.

"Miss, this was taped to your door." The man handed me a scrap of notebook paper with some tape hanging off it.

"Thanks." I unfolded it and smoothed out the creases.

_Dear baby cousin,_

_Sorry we didn't say goodbye, but it's time for us to jet-Mom expects us back before the holiday's over. It was nice seeing you, and we'll be seeing you again _**_real_**_ soon._

_BTW, Joey wants your friend's number._

_See you later,_

_Pete, Joey and Mike_

_P.S. Be safe._

I put the letter down. "You too."

* * *

"Are you sure we should've left without saying goodbye?" Joey asked, his legs swinging off the edge of the rock formation they stood on, overlooking Death City. "I really wanted her friend's number."

"It's better this way." Mike shrugged, reaching out of his pocket and pulling out a cookie, chomping on it. "She'll be fine, anyways. Besides, her mom wanted to see us. And Aunt Life is a scary woman to say no to."

"True." Pete eyes the cookie Mike was chewing on. "Why'd you do it? If you're so set against L.J. getting married? Why did you send them the cookies?"

"I'm a complicated man, that's why." Mike grinned. "Besides, I only sent them to L.J.'s boyfriend. He sent them to her on his own. Guess he felt bad about throwing mine out."

Mike turned away from the city. "I just hope she has better luck than I did. Now come on, we've got to get to Metropolis before Aunt Life starts getting impatient."

"I wonder why she wanted L.J. to have that journal…" Pete said pensively. "She said it was important."

"Who knows. It's not our business."

And with a gust of wind, the boys were gone, leaving only faint traces of a cologne-like scent behind.

**Whew! Another long chapter. Though this one is a bit more serious than the others, because we get to have a closer look into L.J.'s background. She's starting to feel the pressure that comes with being a Jr. Force, and she seems to be becoming more mature. I know it was a more family-oriented chapter rather than romantic like most Valentine's stuff, but I think it was important for L.J.'s development. Plus, it looks like she and Kid have finally made peace-at least for now. Be sure to review, okay! I always love to hear feedback!**

**Oh, and it's probably best if you don't ask about the Braveheart scene. Like I said, it was the caffeine's fault. Revieeeeeew!**


	9. We Have Yet Another Very Big Problem

**CHAPTER 8**

_**I LIVE!**_

**It's me, your favorite OriginalAlienSuperspy. Yeah, I hit a deadzone for a while, but it's due to me being swamped with end of the year work. And I still got more of it coming, so I'm gonna post this and disappear again for another short while. Anyways, this is the 8****th**** chapter. Hope you enjoy!**

Things hadn't quite gotten back to normal since my cousins' last visit. I suppose it hadn't gone as horrifically as I expected. Usually their entrance is accompanied by a few stolen wallets, a couple of exploding air conditioners, and every boy that looks at me going missing for a couple months. But I was still being hounded by girls for their numbers, and Joey was hounding me for _Kira's _number. Huh. Well, after the incident where a boy I'd gone on a date with _somehow_ got the (totally untrue) idea that I was involved in a disgusting incestuous relationship with said cousin, I was less than inclined to oblige. I've never had a boyfriend, but I have gone on a date. Once. And after my cousins had stooped so low to screw it up, it wasn't likely to happen again any time soon. John and Damian have been dating a lot themselves recently, so I've been on my own. As they say, there's nothing like being a third wheel in a group of four couples. Kid and I have been getting along better, but I wasn't anywhere near ready to ask him to go with me to the movies with the rest of pack, even if only to have someone to talk to. Mary and I have been hanging out a little bit more, though, as she and Isaac have been a bit rocky lately. Adam's been distant with Leah too, but I can tell he's trying to shake it off- Leah doesn't seem to notice though, or she's just pretending.

I hate soap operas. So when did my life become one!

Right, so I've spent a lot of time alone with my thoughts. And that old journal of my mom's. Could I intrude on my mom's privacy? Read words that had raced through her mind hundreds of years ago? Did I even _want _to?

"Huh?" I looked up from the pavement as I reached DWMA where crowd of fellow students were gathered around the front doors. "What's going on?"

"School's been delayed." Leah spoke up, skirting the edge of the mob.

"Wha-why?"

Not that I wasn't glad to have the chance to sleep in, but the look in her eyes gave me shivers.

"…They say it's the witch. The one they caught on Valentine's Day. She…she's been murdered."

* * *

Now, I usually like to start my mornings with some juice, a shower, lip gloss if I'm lucky, and hopefully, no deaths. But so far, my morning juice was stolen, the shower icy cold, and my lip gloss rolled off underneath the dresser. So, naturally, this cycle wouldn't be complete without some corpse falling down from the sky. Charming imagery, isn't it?

"Dr. Evi-Stein!" I corrected myself in time as I jogged down the hall. "Can you tell me what happened? With the witch?"

Stein glanced at me as he and his chair rolled along (how does he do that?).

"I can't say much right now, but all things considered…it seems she was stabbed from the front."

"Meaning…?" I asked, keeping pace as we journeyed past the classrooms.

Now I didn't 'get on' with Stein, but desperate times, right? He looked at me meaning fully, as if waiting for something to sink in.

"Oh." Stabbed from the front. "Damn."

So the killer was probably someone the witch knew. An accomplice. Possibly a spy. So this wasn't a one-man job. Of course not.

Since when were things that easy?

"Why did she come back?" I asked finally. "She got what she wanted. Coming back was reckless. And she didn't have the serum, so she wasn't trying to assassinate Lord Death or anything…"

"Well, no." Stein sighed. "But our current theory is that she was walked into a trap by her partner. He knew we were trying to track her down, so he had her get caught and then killed."

"Leaving us with no leads." I grumbled.

I hated it when the bad guys got smart!

"Yes and no." Stein screeched to a stop. "We know that there is an attack coming from either a witch or someone who isn't afraid to manipulate a witch. And we'll have to be ready. There was actually one thing I wanted to ask you about-"

"You can't have my kidney."

"We'll talk about that later. What I was wondering-have you ever done a group resonance before?"

I blinked. "Uh…sure. To charge the Jr. Elements."

Now I couldn't cause tsunamis like Mary or whirlwinds like Adam, but I enabled them to do so. I generated this sort of energy. To stay healthy, the Jr. Elements just had to be around me to absorb it. But obviously, this meant we couldn't be too far apart. Anyways, if Leah, Adam, Isaac or Mary needed any extra energy to pull of a big attack or large usage of their powers, we'd do a bit of a resonance so that I could charge them. My powers weren't really as badass, but I got by well enough.

"Not a wavelength exchange. A group resonance is a little bit different. Instead of one person donating their charge to another, a resonance is two meister-weapon teams coexisting. A medley of wavelengths, all balancing, supporting, and exchanging energy together simultaneously."

I shook my head, a little surprised. "No…Why?"

* * *

"Mary, we need to talk." Mary looked up from her book, to see Isaac standing a little awkwardly by the fountain.

"Uh, does it have to be now? I'm-"

"Four years."

"What?"

"We've been together for four years."

"Yeah, I know." Mary closed her book. "What about it?"

"The Love Aura only affects girls who aren't already in love."

Mary's eyes grew a little bit larger. "Isaac, I've really got to-"

"You were falling all over those guys! I need to know if you've been stringing me along the past four years, or-"

"Isaac. I really have to go." Mary said flatly, shoving her book into her backpack and pushing herself off the fountain. "I'll see you when I get home."

"I wouldn't count on it." Isaac snapped, disappearing into the school.

* * *

"She wouldn't even say anything!" Isaac groaned, in the process of bashing his head into a table.

"It…_sounds _bad…" Adam scratched the back of his head as they sat at a table in the back of the library.

"Doesn't it bother you, Adam! Leah was hanging off those renegade cupids too! And you two have been together practically since you met."

"Well, no, it's not…" Adam coughed. "Let's talk about _you're _problems, Isaac. I'm here for _you_, man. My issues don't matter."

Isaac snorted. "You're just in denial. Because really, we've both been led on for years by a pair of girls who apparently thought we weren't 'official' or 'serious' or whatever stupid categories girls put their relationships into as an excuse to screw around with our heads. In my book, 'together' means _together._ And after four years…I feel like I just wasted my time."

"So end it." Adam shrugged, a little reluctantly.

"End it? Ugh, I should, right?" Isaac fiddled with an eraser.

"Yup. And you should start by getting rid of all her stuff, so you can be a free agent again." Adam nodded.

"Whoa, whoa. If _I'm _ending it with Mary after four years, what're you doing? You and Leah were together for fifteen."

"Uh, ah, I, er, um…" Adam fumbled with his words. "I haven't seen her yet. I'll see her today. Yeah. But we'll start with you. Give me your wallet."

Isaac shot up. "Dude, you still owe me ten bucks from the carnival, and I don't care if you ended up dropping the cotton candy, it was still my money-"

"I don't want your money, Isaac." Adam rolled his eyes. "Wallet."

Isaac eyed him suspiciously, but handed it over.

The second Adam opened it, a whole chain of photos unfurled itself. And they were all photos of-

"Mary on the bench, Mary in the photo booth, Mary at the restaurant-dude, _seriously!" _Adam looked at his friend in disgust.

"What?" Isaac shrugged. "You've got pictures of Leah right?"

"Well, yeah, like _one. _Okay, let's just get rid of these." Adam ripped the plastic chain from the wallet.

"Hey, hey!" Isaac tried to swipe them back. "I haven't even broken up with her yet."

"So here." Adam tossed Isaac his phone. "Type away."

"I'm not breaking up with her through a text message, Adam." Isaac said firmly.

"Why not? Because she's been so good to you?"

"We've been in a relationship for four years. If we break up…I want it to be an actual break up. You know, go all the way with it."

"You're a good guy, Isaac." The way Adam said it, it sounded like 'good guy' was filthiest, most horrible and sickening insult he could think of. "From what you told me, it doesn't seem like she was very willing to talk to you."

"Look, why don't _you _go talk to Leah if you're so badass, and then we'll talk." Isaac muttered.

"Fine. I-I'll go find her right now."

"You do that." Isaac snatched his wallet back as Adam left the library.

Once he was sure Adam was gone, Isaac looked over his pictures of Mary and sighed.

"Tee-hee."

His eye twitched as a girl's giggling reached his ears. "You mind?"

"Oh, hey Isaac!" Kira's head popped up from behind a book at a neighboring table. "Have you seen L.J.?"

"No." Isaac replied dully.

"I guess that's okay. Hey, have you seen this book?" Before Isaac could stop her, Kira plopped herself into the seat across from him.

Now Isaac was immortal, but even he had developed the tendency to cringe away from the schizophrenic missile launcher.  
"My voices pointed it out to me!" Kira said naturally as she turned the page. "Ever heard of Excalibur?" **(A/N O.O - what you look like right now) **

Isaac attained an expression somewhat reminiscent of a deer in the headlights. "Kira. Put the book back."

"But-"

"You're a weapon. Why would you be interested in Excalibur?"

"Because my voices are. And the voices are never wrong." Kira studied him. "You should talk to her again, Isaac."

"Wh-what?"

"Your girlfriend. You should talk to her again."

Isaac looked around. "It's not nice to eavesdrop, Kira."

"I know. That's why I don't do it." Kira nodded. "Anyways….I think I'm gonna go on a quest."

It was as if going on a quest was as ordinary as going to get ice cream.

"Kira, you don't want to find Excalibur." Isaac insisted. "He's…"

What would he say? 'Crazy?' That'd be like bitching about the pot to the kettle.

"…not fun."

"Hm…where can I find some mountain climbing gear?" Kira said thoughtfully.

"Are you even listening to me!" Isaac burst. "Kira-"

"So it's decided!" Kira stood on the table dramatically. "I, Kira Aslen, shall go on this quest!"

"Sssssh!" The librarian hissed angrily.

"This isn't good…" Isaac mumbled to himself.

Could he let a crazed, impaired girl leave the grounds alone? It was dangerous for someone like Kira, given the nature of her condition-she could hurt someone!

"You can't just go by yourself!" Isaac blurted.

"Oh? You're coming, Isaac?" Kira asked.

"Uh…" Somehow this conversation was taking a turn for the worse.

* * *

"One of these days, somebody has got to take that book out of the library." Isaac muttered irritably as he hiked up the mountain with Kira.

"This is taking too loooong…" Kira groaned, suddenly morphing her arm into a missile launcher. "How 'bout we just bring the cave down to us?"

Isaac may have been immortal, but at that moment his heart ran cold. "Put that away!"

"Hmph." Kira returned to normal. "Someone's being a spoil sport."

"Spoil sp-aagh!" Isaac had reached the top of the mountain, only for his leg to plunge up to his shin in icy water. "Ugh…great. Can we go home now?"

"No!" Kira snapped, pointing down the cave path. "We need to go into that obviously ominous mystical cave even though we'll probably be walking right into the mouth of a monstrous beast guarding the sword!"

As Kira took a big breath, Isaac rolled his eyes and waded down the river and was swallowed by the dark cave. "Please, the sword would've made the beast commit suicide by now. Again, _why _are we here? You're a weapon and _I've…_got a partner…"

Kira's shadowy outline tilted her head to the side. "Is there something wrong with Mary?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

"Worry no more! Dr. Kira is here to listen to all your problems!" Kira said excitedly.

"Kira-"

"_Dr. _Kira."

"Docto- oh good gods, what am I saying!" Isaac clutched his head. "Let's just have a quiet time, okay?"

Isaac covered his face and sighed as they walked along in the pitch black, listening to the dripping water as they continued against the cold current.

"Isaac…"

"Well, the quiet time didn't last long." Not that he expected it to.

"Isaac…I don't think that's supposed to be there."

"Be where?" Isaac looked up to see that they'd entered a dimly lit cavern.

But even the flickering torches were all that was needed to see that the room was completely empty. Waterfalls gushed behind a stone platform, but there was no sword. No Excalibur.

"Thank god." Isaac grumbled. "But still, where are all the fairies? They should be throwing a party in here right now."

"_We _wouldn't want to be anywhere near that _thing."_ Kira's voice dropped dramatically, the pep gone.

Isaac followed her gaze, and felt his temperature drop. On the stone wall, branded in scarlet, was a symbol of a monstrous bird. The same brand that had been stamped onto the school the night of the attack.

"Oh, that's not good."

* * *

"A _quest? _Isaac, Isaac, slow down!" I put one finger in one ear and clutched my phone to the other. "Where are you? With Kira! Her voices said so? Isaac, what're you tal- The enemy has _who! _Just get back here! Did you call the school?"

Oh, shiznap.

* * *

"So the goons who attacked the school might have Excalibur. What's the worse that could happen?" John asked as we sat in the classroom, Stein sitting pensively at his desk.

"He's supposed to be nearly impossible to deal with, right?" I nodded.

"True, it does seem unlikely that anyone would willingly and knowingly pair themselves with Excalibur. However, if the person in question had a strong resolve…it's possible."

"Okay, so on a scale of one-to-ten, how screwed are we?" Damian asked, sitting on one desk boredly.

He'd arrived a whole half hour late, the least he could do was _pretend _to be interested!

"That's hard to say. Really it depends on the meister wielding him. We had a student here once weild Excalibur for a full day. And even though he'd never had a partner before, the effect was pretty dramatic. We even considered elevating him to a three-star meister."

"Why would you do that?" I asked exasperatedly.

I was still technically a one-star meister, because I hadn't taken the necessary exams yet. And even though I was lazier than a log, it still irked me to hear that some punk nearly skipped me by two levels in one day.

"It's called 'cheating' L.J." Damian said, stretching out. "So basically what you're saying Doc, is that if any old adolescent kid can wield the sword effectively, we'd better pray our enemy is a 6-year-old girl. Right?"

"About right, yes." Stein nodded. "Which is what makes this even more important."

"Right, so wh-"

"I apologize for being late." The door opened, revealing Kid. "My father's just informed me of the situation."

This guy sure liked big words. Not only that, but he seemed to talk more to his dad in one week than I did to my mom in a year- minus the shouting, of course. But enough of that- what was he doing here?

"What're you doing here?" Damian asked, cracking his back idly.

Yeah, what he said!

"I asked him to come here." Stein said, lighting a cigarette. "And with this new piece of information, it's a good thing too."

"Okay…" I tried not to look uncomfortable. "Why _are _we here?"

"It's pretty simple." Stein replied, hands in his pockets. "I want you and Kid to perform a group resonance."

Oh crap.

**Stay tuned for chapter 9: ****Death is Order, Life is Chaos.**

**Where all these questions and more will be answered:**

_**Can L.J. resonate with Kid?**_

_**Does L.J. read the diary?**_

_**What happens with Isaac, Kira and the others?**_

_**Will I be able to go five sentences without snarking?**_** Not likely!**

**See you in about a week! **

**SEND ME LOVE THROUGH REVIEWS!**

**Hugs,**

**Original Alien Superspy.**

**Saving the world. One nap at a time.**


	10. Death is Order, Life is Chaos

**Chapter 9**

**Welcome back! You can expect this chapter to set off a HUGE chain of events that'll ultimately lead to the conclusion of the story. Anyways, I hear a bunch of you guys going "will they or won't they" with L.J. and Kid. Which means I'm totally doing my job right. MWAHAHAHA! Let's be reasonable- as if a guy like Kid would just fall in love with a girl like L.J. overnight (she's a bit out of his comfort zone, you know?). But to answer your question…eh. Who knows? Well, **_**I **_**do, but I just like laughing at you guys. Sorry. XP**

_'Death is Order, Life is Chaos.'_

I guess 'dear diary' was too much to ask for.

I sighed quietly as I turned the page in my mother's journal, which I'd finally mustered up the backbone to open.

_'That's what I've learned during my visit. My very existence is the source of all evil in this world, and Death is its end. As Forces, or Gods as we're now called, we are meant to be objective viewers. Keepers of Balance, completely neutral to the happenings in the humans' lives. But Death has broken that code, and brought Law to this world, and by extension, the madness that is birthed from it. He thinks less of me because I refuse to interfere with the bloodshed and madness that the mortals have brought upon themselves. Perhaps he's right, but I tell him that it won't sway me from my job. And that makes me a hypocrite- my job tells me that for the sake of the balance, an 'alliance' between life and death must be made. A union- but for my pride I refuse to submit to it. Our differences are too great to bridge, at least for the moment. Now that he's chained in Nevada, he's begun to give a lot of thought to creating a fragment. He never struck me as the type to settle down and have a child, but I suppose when you're stuck in one place for hundreds of years, you begin to consider this sort of thing. He won't do it right away; this sort of decision takes a lot of thought and preparation. Perhaps I myself should consider it. I know the burden of Union will be pushed onto our children, which is something I do feel uncertain about. I can only hope that when the time comes, I'll make a Jr. Force more responsible and dedicated to her work than -'_

I closed the book slowly. What the hell was this? It didn't say anything about the serum- not yet, anyway, but I had no more desire to continue reading. My mother knew what she was getting me into; she knowingly put me in this situation. And I had ended up being a failure as a Jr. Force for not living up to her expectations. Beautiful. I slid the book under my pillow slowly and hit the lights. I was just so sick of all the crisis.

_It's dark. I can't even see myself, but somehow I manage to keep walking- I'm barefoot, stepping over what feels like water. The journal in my hands feels heavy and old, as if it might crumble to dust if I'm not careful._

_There's something here. I can't hear anything, but somehow I know that there's movement going on around me. Immortality has no meaning here- a place _between_ life and death. And I'm afraid._

"_John?" I call out, looking around in vain. "Damian?"_

_And then I hear it- a deep, echoing laughter that doesn't have an end or a beginning as it circles around me._

"_See how scared you are?" It purrs, causing ripples to form on the water. "It's sad, really. What makes you think you're so special? You think you can't die?"_

_I feel something hot and sticky creeping over me, and looking down, I can suddenly see myself, giving off a faint glow. Blood is dribbling down my arms, disappearing into the black lake below._

"_You think I don't see the __**real**__ you? I see you're __**hideous.**__"_

"_Go away…" My voice was quiet as I clutched at my ears. "You can't be here. It's not real. You're not…"_

_More laughter._

"_You don't think you're stronger than me, do you? You should have- no, you __**did **__die that day, little one. You thought there would be no consequences for the things you've done? There are always consequences, and things are about to get __**much **__worse."_

"_S-stop it!" I dropped book, blood staining my clothes crimson._

"_You can't win. Don't you understand by now? You're __**dead inside."**_

_My breathing begins to get erratic as more blood crept across my skin. My blood? Coming from the hole in my heart? My chest felt empty, but there was no pain._

_"Oh, I wouldn't bother running away. I'll always find you."_

"STOP IT!" My heart gave a giant lurch as I shot up from bed.

The sheets were tangled around my legs, sweat dripping down my neck. My heart was beating so violently it made me tremble. Looking down, I saw the journal clutched in my hands.

"Ugh!" I threw the diary with all my might against the wall, but it just slumped down, perfectly intact. Figures.

"L.J.!" The door slammed open and John burst in. "What happened?"

But I just shook my head numbly, my hands shaking as I tried to sit as still as I could.

"Get me a phone." I said finally, clutching his arms as though it was all that would keep me from slipping back into that nightmare. "Now."

* * *

"You know…you guys kinda suck." Kira said, sitting on a desk in the classroom tiredly.

"Hey it's, not our fault!" Damian's weapon form protested.

"Is it supposed to be this hard?" I exclaimed, catching my breath.

Needless to say, after this morning I was in an irritable mood.

That, and the strain of constantly swelling my wavelength only to have it snapped back was making me dizzy.

"We've been at this for hours."

"We can't stop now!" Kid protested. "Again!"

I think this guy had _failure_ _issues_…

But again, it was no use. My wavelength was too wild for him to focus on, and his too direct and overwhelming for me to tune with.

"I'm taking a break." I said finally.

"The enemy has Excalibur, without a good defense, we'll be overpowered." Kid snapped.

"There's got to be another way!"

"There isn't!"

"Well- this plan sucks!" I shot back. "What _is _it with this place anyway! The Institute never got attacked."

Granted, that was because no one knew where it was. Ever heard of Lady White's School of the Musical Arts? Well, The Institute was about nine miles _beneath _it.

"Well, this isn't the Institute." Kid said coldly.

"Obviously."

"We just need to adjust our wavelengths and compromise-"

"Pfft. What do you know about compromise…"

"Considering I'm still standing here with you, I'd say-"

"Why you little _twat-"_

"Okay, STOP!"

I looked up, annoyed. "What is it?" "It's time for a time-out." Kira said, standing up.

"Finally." Damian and John returned to human form.

"This is hopeless." Liz sighed, stretching. "We must be doing something wrong."

"We've been at this for four hours. Any ideas?" John mumbled.

Oh, I had a few ideas. Like about how it was _impossible. _Before, I thought Kid and I weren't compatible. Now, I knew that even our very _souls _repelled one another.

"I'll be back." I muttered, heading into through the door Kira had disappeared through.

After walking down the hall for a little while, I spotted her leaning against the wall.

"Hey."

"Hi." I groaned. "I need beer."

Kira made a "hn" sound, as she looked at the ceiling. "The voices are getting impatient, L.J. We're out of time."

"I just can't do it!" I leaned against her, defeated. "Kid and I are just…not compatible."

"Yeah…" Kira murmured. "Well you see, the thing is-" Suddenly, I felt her grab my shoulders and flip me off the wall…and into an open closet.

"Hey!"

_Slam._

I stood frozen in the darkness a moment, mouth agape.

I got conned by an impaired psycho. The hell?

Scrambling to the door, I pressed my ear against it as footsteps began echoing down the hall. Was she leaving me here? No, the footsteps were coming, not going…

"Kira, there you are. Have you seen L.J.? We should get back to work."

"Oh, sure Kid."

The door swung open again, light stunning me.

"What're you-"

I felt something collide into me, ramming us both to the ground.

"Sorry guys, but we can't let your egos screw this up." Kira said firmly. "I'll check up on you later."

"Kira, don't you **dare**-"

_Slam. Click._

"-Great." I sighed, my head hitting against the cement floor. "Ah… Kid, you're kind of…"

It wasn't that he was really that heavy. But his cold skin against mine- it all gave me a tingly feeling that was deeply disturbing.

"Oh." Kid scrambled off me as if I were on fire, and climbed to his feet. "S-sorry."

"Right." I stood up too, and jiggled the closet doorknob. "…I guess we'll just have to kick it down."

Really, did Kira think a _door _could hold a Grim Reaper and a Guardian Angel?

"L.J., wait."

"What? Why?" I looked at his grip on my arm incredulously.

"…Look at the door."

"The door…?" I pulled out my phone and used it as a flashlight to help me see in the limited lighting. "What the hell-!"

So that's what Kira was doing out here. The closet door was reversed on it's hinges- the decorative design of a skull in the middle of an intricate border was facing inwards instead of out. And-

"It's perfectly symmetrical!" Kid exclaimed happily, sparkles in his eyes.

"_Oh, _hell no!" I banged on the door. "Kira! KIRA! Very funny, now open up! I'm not joking, Kira, get me _out of here! _Kid-"

I felt him restraining me, and began to kick.

"You might break it!"

"_That's the point! _Kid, I'm claustrophobic, I _can't-"_

"But the symmetry-!"

"Kid, there is no way that I'm going to stay locked in a closet with you over something as _stupid _as _symmetry_!"

**1 Hour Later.**

"I hate you."

"This is it. I'm going to die, here, in a closet…with Kid." I said hopelessly.

Even in the dark I swear I could see him roll his eyes at me. I was trying to keep my breathing even, and avoided looking around for fear I'd realize how cramped or small this space was. The first fifteen minutes were hard for us both, what with me kicking and screaming about the walls closing in, but now my brain felt like it had effectively shut down.

"So…" I sighed.

I had a funny feeling that Kira probably had her ear pressed against the door right now, and that we wouldn't be going nowhere until it seemed like we were making progress.

"What's with you and symmetry?" A question I was positive I'd regret asking in a moment.

"Is that what passes as a joke in Britain?"

"You don't want to know."

"Symmetry is what makes the world beautiful!" Kid said determinedly, folding his arms. "Everything must be aesthetically pleasing or there's no point. My art, my _being, _is symmetry. If you can't understand that-"

"You'll what? Divorce me?" I challenged.

Kid folded his arms with a huff. "Haven't you ever had something that made you feel like you had a purpose?"

"I'm the Angel's daughter. 'Purpose' isn't something I'm very short on." I said wryly.

"Fine then. Was there ever something you _loved?_ Something you had complete faith in?"

Loved? Faith? Uh…

"I guess…there was someone." I said finally, scuffling my feet against the ground.

"Oh. Who was he?"

"What? It wasn't like that." I waved my hand lightly. "Kid…you want to take over your father's position someday, don't you?"

"To be the symbol of order, law, and balance in this world? Of course. But…" Kid paused, "_You _don't want to be the Guardian Angel."

"Ah…"

"You want to be normal."

"'Normal?'" I repeated, a little taken aback. "Can't say I haven't wondered what it would be like. When things get rough at home. When I wonder how much easier everything would be, or how much pressure there is for me to succeed. I've never been good enough for my mother, you know. So I just stopped trying…everyone expected _her _to be the one to take over, I was always just second best."

Kid looked up. "'Her?' Who's she?"

I must've gone a little pale, because his eyes narrowed slightly.

"I guess I thought you knew. But it was a long time ago, and there's no reason for your dad to have told you, so, I…never mind. Please forget I said anything." I said, trying to laugh it off as much as possible.

Kid didn't press it, but he still looked suspicious.

"Now would be the time for you to change the subject." I nodded at him.

"Alright. I suppose I am curious about your certain habits."

I balked. "W- The what?"

"Just about every time you open your mouth it's to say something unpleasant, usually about yourself or your situation. And you're always acting like you don't care, even though you obviously do. I don't really understand it. I mean you're smart, capable, pretty-"

"'You think I'm pretty?"

"Ah- my point is, you've got a lot going for you and I don't see why you'd use such an acerbic defense mechanism."

I felt at a loss for words. Defense mechanism. Really?

"I'm sorry." Kid said finally. "I shouldn't have assumed. I'm sure it's just-"

"Uh, no. It's just that well, I… guess I never really thought of it like that." I leaned back. "I just can't help but say things sometimes. Certain…incidents in my life have caused me to view the world a little differently that I did before. You can never let yourself get too close to someone- all it does is get them hurt and you disappointed."

An awkward pause.

"...I understand that you don't want to marry me."

Oh, fantastic. An even _more _awkward topic.

"But I do want to get along with you. And threat or no, it would be beneficial if you and I could resonate together." Kid continued.

"Oh." I blinked. "Uh, sure. I mean…I'm willing to try again."

Kid seemed a bit more relieved as he nodded. "Good. Because we still don't know much at all about who managed to stamp that phoenix symbol on the school and in the cave-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. _What_ kind of symbol?" I looked up sharply.

"Ah…a phoenix. I know it's just an assumption, but that's what it looked like to me, so-"

"Kid…" I said slowly, realization dawning. "I just remembered. On my way here I bumped into Patti, and she was talking about how she'd gone home at lunch to rearrange all your portraits."

And just like that, I saw Kid's eyes grow wide and his arms began to shake.

_BANG!_

I squinted at the sudden flow of light as the door was knocked clean off it's hinges, yet miraculously unscathed as it clattered to the floor. Climbing off the closet floor, I peered out into the hallway- Kid was already a cloud of dust in the distance. It was dirty tactics, telling that kind of lie, but I needed to find John and Damian.

"Hm." I said to myself thoughtfully. "Maybe Kid and I do have something in common."

We're both really screwed up.

"Guys, no one's seen her!" Adam said exasperatedly, meeting the others in front of the school. "John and Damian and are gone too."

"They're not at the apartment." Mary added, catching her breath.

"They went on a mission? Out?" Leah suggested.

"No one in town has seen them since yesterday." Isaac shrugged.

"Excuse me?" Kid said, walking over. "I was wondering if any of you had seen L.J.? I'd like to have a _talk_ to her about a certain sick joke."

"You and everyone else." Mary sighed. "But she, John and Damian didn't come home last night."

Kid folded his arms thoughtfully. "…Does the phoenix mean anything in particular to you?"

**You will not believe all the crazy hell that's about to rain down in the next two chapters. I swear, it might start looking like an episode of Lost. **

**-OriginalAlienSuperspy**

**Saving the world. One nap at a time**


	11. Love the Dark and Hate Your Shadow

**Guess who's home! All righty, I've got a brand-new chappy for you all to enjoy today. I wasn't gonna post this until a little later (after some more editing), but for some reasons my sisters **_**reaaaally **_**get into my writing. If they don't like the ending, I may need to find a new place to live.**

**Once again, I feel compelled to remind you that this was ALL planned out from the beginning. If anything you read here shocks the hell out of you, then I suck horribly at foreshadowing.**

**Disclaimer: As always, I own nothing but my own OC's. Kira belongs to Murdering-Star.**

_People tend to be surprised when they meet me. I'll admit I'm not what most expect for the future Guardian Angel. I was always a bit odd. For example, I used to love the dark. Did you know that if you put your ear close enough, you can hear its pulse? It's breath? As if it could just swallow you whole and take you to a place where all your pain would just ebb away. Some people fear the darkness… but something you'll learn if you live long enough or see enough is that there are very few things in this world worth being afraid of. Unfortunately... she was one of them._

A cold chill swept up the school steps as the sun began to lazily drift across the sky. There was a newfound stiffness in the atmosphere, shrouded by wall of silence- a pink elephant in the background, if you will.

"A phoenix?" Mary repeated. "W-where would you get that idea?"

"L.J. mentioned it." Kid looked at the Junior Elements as they shifted uncomfortably. "So it does mean something then?"

"It doesn't matter." Adam said, shooting the others a stern look. "Just something from a long time ago."

"Adam…" Leah whispered, grabbing his arm lightly.

"It's not our place to tell. If no ones told him yet, then there must not be a need to." Adam said through gritted teeth. "She's fine. If L.J. was too far away from us, we'd feel it."

Leah settled for chewing on her lip anxiously, and Isaac sighed, adjusting his cap.

"Look Kid, suffice it to say that there are some things you don't know about L.J."

* * *

Do you ever have one of those days where everything is so far away from 'fine' that you wouldn't be surprised if you've actually died without realizing it and have been in hell all this time? Well, I've been living in that state for a _long _while, and I've just begun to understand. My life **sucks. **Really, I _should _be surprised by now. But no, I guess a part of me has always been doubting my good luck; waiting for that anvil to drop and wake me from my _delusions_ that things might actually start to be okay.

"I can't believe I was this stupid." I mumbled to myself.

Because I should know better.

"…I thought we were friends."

"We are friends L.J." Damian said, fiddling with a baseball. "But there are some things you don't understand."

"Like what?" I asked dully, staring blankly out the window.

"Well…" Damian caught the ball in his hands thoughtfully.

The car was parked somewhere in the desert, beside a lonely looking gas station where John was outside using a pay phone.

"…Like the past. How long have you been trying to run from your past, L.J.?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." I rubbed a red spot on my flesh as it began to itch,- the injection spot where the needle had been plunged into my arm.

I'd just regained consciousness, and my head was still spinning.

"Oh, we know all about her." Damian waved it away. "You can be honest with us."

"Ironic."

"I guess. Anyways, it's kinda the same deal with John and me. We can't run from our past. So we decided to do something about it."

"Do go continue, I love a good yarn." I deadpanned boredly.

Damian was interrupted by John climbing back into the car. "They'll be here soon."

"Don't suppose you're talking about the pizza delivery guy?"

"Sorry." John shrugged, glancing at me. "How much did you give her?"

"Enough."

"What exactly was it you gave me?" I asked, rubbing my arm as best I could on my jeans, as my other hand was cuffed to the car handle.

"A diluted version of the serum. It won't do anything permanent but it, to put it simply, will de-power you. Now that you're awake it'll be taking effect soon. For a few hours atleast, you're basically as good as human." John said, glancing at the clock. "It's really nothing personal, L.J."

"Yeah, we like you and all." Damian added.

"But we don't really have a choice." John went on.

Right now, I just wanted to bash his head in with a croquet mallet, but I restrained myself with difficulty. I probably could kick their asses even without my powers, but I... didn't really want to hurt them. And call me curious about the guys I'd lived with for four years betraying me.

"Do tell."

"Well, when we were kids, our parents were…uh…"

"See, they belonged to this cult that idolized a small renegade group of witches. These witches believed that if it weren't for weapons, then they wouldn't have anything to be afraid of. So when Damian and I developed the ability to shape shift, our families tried to burn us at the stake."

"Not very original." I said wryly.

"No." Damian agreed. "But see, were saved, by someone I'm pretty sure you've heard of. She wasn't quite able to take on physical form yet, but she was still way more powerful than those witches were. And she made a deal with us. She'd give us shelter, protection, whatever, and all we had to do was pledge loyalty."

"And you did it! ?" I sat up. "What? Why! ?"

"Hey, we'd just been kicked out of our home in the most homicidal way possible, had no where to go, and she'd saved us. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"'Seemed?'" I repeated.

"Well, yeah. After a while, the orders she'd been giving us got progressively shadier. But like we said, we don't have a real choice." John explained. "And then, she said if there was a reason she ever had to leave, that we would be sent to watch you."

"John." Damian, nudged his comrade as a car began to approach from the distance.

"Right. Listen L.J. We know you never finished reading your mom's diary."

"How-"

"Because we stole a few pages-specifically, the ones that your cousins bookmarked for you. And there's something in here that even Rachel doesn't know." John shoved a few crumbly sheets of paper in my hands, and I hastily skimmed them over.

"But…this-"

"It's real, L.J. And this is the only shot we've got."

"You used me. You were never…you were working behind her back and mine." I let the dusty pages drift from my hands.

"That may be true, but only because we know that you can't let this opportunity pass. Making a new fragment for you're mom'll be easy. It's killing one that's difficult."

I took a shaky breath and gazed out the window, to the cars that were coming closer.

"…I get it." I nodded, leaning back in the seat. "I'm going to have to die."

* * *

"Adam, please!" Leah begged, cornering him in the empty library. "Something's wrong, I know it!"

"It's not our secret to te-"

"Guys!" Both demigods jumped as a new voice came bouncing into the library. "Hey! Where's L.J.? She and Kid aren't in the closet where I left them…"

"Kira." The two said in unison, almost exhaustedly.

"You haven't heard?" Adam asked, folding his arms.

"No." Kira blinked innocently. "…They didn't kill each other, did they! ?"

"Of course not." Leah rolled her eyes.

"Oh. Well, my voices keep telling me that I _really _need to make sure L.J.'s okay. She is, right?"

"Go on, Adam." Leah said pointedly. "Tell her how 'okay' L.J. is."

"You're overreacting. It's only been a few hours!" Adam protested. "I swear, you girls- ack!"

"Are you alright?" Kira scurried over, Adam grasping his head and Leah doubling over.

"I feel kind of strange…" Leah struggled to maintain balance.

"Does your arm feel numb?" Adam grunted, suddenly breathless.

"So for some reason, none of your powers are working." Maka said, observing all the Junior Elements as they sat in the nurse's office.

"How is that possible?" Mary demanded, trying in vain to manipulate the water in a nearby glass.

"Well, I don't see anything wrong with your individual wavelengths, but you said once that you all draw your power from L.J., isn't that right?" Maka scanned them over as she took a seat.

"Yes, but-"

"Then we're to assume something's happened to her." Leah said.

"But none of us have gotten sick." Isaac pointed out. "So she must still be nearby. But for some reason…her powers aren't working, therefore not charging us."

"And ergo, we might as well be human." Adam said, disgust in his voice.

"Hey!"

"Gee, don't you wish _someone _had known something like this was gonna happen? If only." Leah snapped.

"Give it a rest-"

"Fighting won't help." Kira said, biting her nail.

"What's wrong with you?" Isaac looked up.

"I…I feel like I'm supposed to…they all keep talking at once!" Kira wrung her hands anxiously. "I'm…I'm going to lie down!"

"O-kay." Leah watched the girl go before rounding on her boyfriend. "That's it, Adam. L.J.'s our friend, and if you won't do anything, then _I'll _tell Kid the truth."

"What do you think he's going to be able to do?"

"More than we will by sitting here. At any rate, at least he's not de-powered like us, and this _proves _something's going down!"

"Excuse me." The Junior Elements looked up as Kid entered the room with Liz and Patti.

"So. Guess who went running to daddy." Adam grumbled. "How much do you know?"

"He told me to consult you for myself."

"Prove it." Adam challenged. "I'll talk if Lord Death wants, but L.J.'s our friend, and she made us swear to never bring it up again."

"Plus, she's reeeeaally scary when she's pissed." Isaac nodded.

Kid crossed his arms. "Rachel. It's about someone named Rachel."

…

"Okay, you know how the temperature just dropped twenty degrees? It wasn't me." Mary insisted.

"Who is Rachel?" Maka asked, looking around.

It was Adam who spoke first. "I guess you could say that… L.J. wasn't really the first fragment our Lady of Light created. Rachel was the first."

"Another fragment? What happened to her?" Liz asked.

"That's a complicated question. A lot of things happened to her. The official story is that she was a little unstable. Making a fragment isn't easy, I guess, but…well, Rachel became obsessed with getting stronger. She was already really powerful, but what she really wanted was to surpass her mother- be 'better than the original'. Being a copy isn't something a lot of us deal with too well. And Rachel took it to the extreme. So, Lady Life, sensing Rachel's…issues, created a new successor. Life Junior, who we all know as L.J."

"But no one really realized how unsound Rachel really was. With L.J. being the new successor, Rachel would just become a…protector of sorts, a mentor. Which didn't sit too well with her." Leah took over. "Rachel challenged L.J. for the position while their mother was away. We tried to interfere, but we weren't a match for her."

"Then L.J. kind of… snapped." Mary fiddled with the hem of her blouse. "It was the first time her first sphere had ever connected, and it was enough force to…banish Rachel's soul."

"First set?"

"Oh. Uh, the Guardian Angel has three Spheres, representing the angelic hierarchy and her control over all of them. Basically it's her version of the sanzu lines, only they're on her stomach.

"Okay, but how did she banish her sister?"

"It's an ability that the Guardian has, but by connecting her spheres L.J. tapped into it. The in-between is this…pocket, I guess. Between life and death, between the world of the humans and gods. L.J. somehow managed to banish Rachel's soul there- I don't know exactly what happened, we weren't conscious. But apparently, Rachel and L.J. are still connected, as they were both made from the same source." Isaac sighed. "I can't imagine what it must be like, to have a connection with a monster like her."

"We all knew Rachel growing up." Adam said. "She was studious, dedicated, strict- basically a model fragment, before it was revealed what she really was. But Rachel was everything L.J. wasn't, and Junior's always felt inferior because of that. Ever since the beginning Rachel seemed like the perfect successor. Her powers were unbelievable- that's why everyone called her 'The Phoenix.'"

"But I don't understand!" Leah said desperately. "How could Rachel come back? No one escapes banishment to the in-between, and L.J. destroyed the body to sever Rachel's connection to this world."

"But you said that Rachel is connected to L.J.? So, theoretically speaking, couldn't Rachel find her way back that way?" Kid asked, his expression unreadable.

"It still doesn't make much sense." Isaac grumbled. "She won't have a physical body until she completely crosses over, but she'll still have some power."

"That must be why she took Excalibur!" Mary nodded. "It's useless to try and force the Spheres to connect, a demigod can only tap into their parents power when they're ready, so Rachel can't cross over that way. But the Holy Sword might have the ability to cut the fabric separating here from the in-between."

"Either way, we're back where we started: we need to find L.J., and by doing so we'll find Excalibur and Rachel." Adam said. "How do we find her?" '

**A/N Oooh, the plot thickens! Okay, now before you all bite my head off about John and Damian (as I know my sisters will), lemme ask:**

**Anyone notice how John and Damian met L.J. right after Rachel disappeared? And how they never wanted to talk about their past? (ch. 1)**

**Who made sure L.J. was at the lock-in? More importantly, who was the **_**only boy**_** who wasn't at the lock-in? (ch. 5)**

**Who was absent at the time Excalibur went missing? And then who turned up an hour late to the training session? (ch. 8)**

**Did anyone notice how the witch was **_**stabbed?**_** Who turns into sais/daggers? (ch. 9)**

**Who challenged Black Star to a soccer match, and thus made sure all the students were in one place? Then who raised the alarm and got the witch caught? (ch. 8)**

**And as for L.J.'s sister, there are lots of chapters referring to an anonymous 'she' or a 'her' from L.J.'s past.**

**Yes, I put WAAAY too much thought into this. I know. I was having too much fun. And in my defense…I have no life. Oh, and there's one more 'big reveal ' coming up! So Review if you wanna guess what's gonna happen next.**

**Hugs,**

**OA**


	12. The Evil Within

**Black and Gold- Chapter 12**

**LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Let the word go forth to all with means to hear from the lowest village to the highest parapet, that on October 27th, in this, year of our Lord, 2010, OriginalAlienSuperspy FINALLY UPDATED!** **WITH 7,000 WORDS, BITCHES!**

**I combined two chapters to make up for the hiatus.** **I hope you're wearing a sturdy hat for this one, 'cause it may blow your mind. Whether that's a good or bad thing isn't yet clear…**

**Oh, and I've been getting questions over whether L.J. has wings. The answer is no, not **_**usually **_**(does her soul count?). Her mother does, though.**

**Warning: YOU MAY GET MOOD WHIPLASH.**

"Ah, Kid?"

Kid turned around, and saw Maka standing at the end of the hall.

"What is it, Maka?"

"I need to talk to you."

Kid nodded for Liz and Patti to go on without him as Maka awkwardly stood outside the infirmary.

"Is there something wrong?"

"I-I'm not sure…yes." Maka rubbed her neck. "I don't think that they're telling us everything in there."

"What do you mean?" Kid's eyes narrowed.

He personally never spent much time with other Godlings, so he didn't exactly have the sort of camaraderie they all seemed to share. But even so, their desperate loyalty to L.J. wasn't something they really had time for, given the circumstances.

"When I first met L.J… I didn't say anything, but… there's something wrong with her soul."

"…Wrong like how?"

* * *

"_Why doesn't mom let me go anywhere?" I sighed, resting my head on the heel of my hand._

"_Because you're her baby. You'll see the world in time." She shuffled the cards in her hands gracefully, as if the paper was moving on it's own._

"_You get to go anywhere you want. She trusts _you._"_

"_Trust hasn't got anything to do with it. You've got a lot to learn before you're ready to go on missions."_

"_Other Godlings go on missions for their parents! Mary and the others' powers haven't even manifested yet, but they go on quests, with their parents not even _in_ this dimension! It sucks."_

_We sat in the middle of the sepia-colored forest, fallen leaves skittering around. We were both perched atop a large, old coffin that had been in the woods for ages- they say it belonged to some ancient warrior. I guess playing cards on his grave was a little disrespectful, but it was probably the only company he'd had in a long time._

…_People say she looked like me. Except older, and stronger I guess. We had the same blue-green eyes with a pearly sheen, the same long hair and pale skin. But she was much more beautiful than me. And she had presence- so they called her The Phoenix. A symbol of knowledge, power, and life. I was the awkward little sister who'd never even left England despite being eleven years old._

"_I know it seems that way. But she just wants to make sure you're ready. Stick to your studies and just do your best. You'll see."_

_I wrinkled my nose. Studies. That was another thing- I didn't want to study. Rachel was the star student; I was the runt who'd rather play in the tunnels with the street kids and the chavs. She must've sensed my attitude, because she laughed and dealt out the cards._

"_Tell you what. I'll talk to mom. And someday, I promise I'll take you out to see the world with me."_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Yeah. Now, you still don't know how to play poker, right? I'll show you."_

* * *

The darkness clung to the dank stone room as Kira sat beside her bed quietly, her legs drawn up to herself and mumbling under her breath.

"Do you know where she is? No, I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Why can't I…Oh." Her whispers scratched against the silence as she spoke to the invisible beings within her head.

"Maybe I shouldn't have locked them in the closet." Kira murmured.

"_You kidding? I loved that part!"_

"_Although it is a problem if we can't find her soon."_

"_I agree, the situation is mysterious."_

"_It doesn't have anything to do with _us, _though."_

'Of course it does! L.J.'s our friend.' Kira reprimanded quietly.

"_Pfft. She doesn't even know who you are."_

"_That's true…"_

"_I _don't even know who I am." Kira sighed.

"_That's because you don't _want _to know. Otherwise you would have asked them for help."_

"I don't need help." Kira countered.

"_We thought you'd have remembered by now. " _One voice sighed.

"She's afraid of remembering. She doesn't want to know how she got in that village. Or why those creatures were looking for her."

"Shut up." Kira clutched her head. "I don't want to talk about that now."

"_Of course you do. You think that it's got something to do with L.J. Because if it is, it'll be _your _fault if she gets hurt."_

"Stop it. That's got nothing to do with this."

"Leave her alone. She'll remember in her own time."

"_Not in time to save the fragment."_

* * *

So this was how it ended. I felt betrayed. More than that, I felt stupid. By this time, the car we'd been watching approach had skirted to a stop, and I saw that behind the wheel, was a pale, skeleton al creature with only a thin, transparent layer of skin covering the bones- or rather, keeping it together, as the skin was rather transparent. And he looked familiar.

"This her?" He asked with a gravelly, echoing voice.

"Yup." Damian nodded, not even batting an eye at the undead abomination before him.

"Doesn't look like much."

"Thanks." I said dully, feeling pins and needles at the ejection site, and imagining how enjoyable it would be to punt his skull across the canyon.

"We'll be taking her to the workshop from here." The skeleton said, before turning to me.

He grinned horribly, showing all his sickeningly bright teeth.

"Don't worry. We will do nothing more to you than just what you did to our Phoenix. Although I assure you that this time, it will be an extremely slow and painful process."

Gee. Remind me to invite you to my next party, Mr. Giggles.

* * *

"If I remember…will I be able to find L.J.?" Kira asked the shadows. "Could _you _make me remember?"

"_Hmm…could we?"_

"_It's her choice."_

"_Yes…but the more appropriate question is…_would _you save her?"_

"What's that mean?" Kira's brow furrowed. "If I'll be able to, then, of course!"

_"She asked!" "She did, didn't she!"_

"_We've been waiting _ever _so long…you might want to close your eyes."_

"_And it'll definitely hurt."_

"What do you m- ah!" Kira's eyes grew wide as a sharp pain stabbed into her head, and the floor seemed to drop out from under her.

It was as if a dam in her mind had been ruptured, allowing a flood of memory to gush out and wash over her senses. Images began to flicker before her eyes at amazing speed.

She hissed in pain, and clutched her ears to keep the sound of screams out of her mind. All the memories she'd lost in that damn town- the house, her family, the book-

"The book." She repeated, the room swimming before her eyes.

It had started with the book. She'd wanted to make her mama proud, make up for…

"I started this."

She made the deal. And then she couldn't remember. She didn't know who she was. She got scared and she ran to that town. But then the creatures came, and the screaming started.

"It was my fault." Her voice was hollow and breaths shaky.

She hadn't even realized she was crying, but the tears dripped into the stone floor.

She'd been responsible for everything. But they'd created a scapegoat for her. An old enemy of her family that they'd set up. And L,J.-

L.J. They took her. And she remembered.

* * *

_-Just over four years prior-_

_I sighed as I leaned back on the hill, overlooking the cemetery. It was kinda odd that all my hangouts tended to be places of death and filth. But I guess I needed a change of scenery. Everything on my side of the city was so bright, clean and full of life. It was all so loud and fast, and every once in a while I wanted to be still. It'd been a year since Rachel promised to take me out of England. It hadn't come true yet, but I had gotten really good at poker. I sighed again. Things had changed since last year. Mom and Rachel had actually been fighting a lot- something that had never happened before. They'd shout and make noise, but my friends and I couldn't make anything out, even with our ears pressed against the doors (but seriously, how close would you want to get to something like that?). Rachel had become distant, completely withdrawn into her work. Sometimes she would look at me like… I dunno. She just wasn't the same. And in turn, I'd started hanging out with the Elemental Godlings more. We'd known each other practically since birth, but without Rachel around, I was just starting to really spend time with them._ _**Beep. Beep.**_

_"Hn?" I reached into my pocket and flipped open my phone. "Yeah?"_

_"Ah…L.J?"_

_"Yes?" My eyes narrowed. "What's up, Mary?"_

_"Uh… we've got a bit of a problem."_

_**CRASH!**_

_"What the hell was that?" I winced, holding the phone a little farther from my ear._

_"Okay, big problem! BIG PROBLE-Ack! L.J., FIND YOUR-"_

_I looked at the phone as the line went dead._

_"Huh." I looked at the phone before flipping it shut and sliding it into my pocket._

_I stood up and dusted off my jeans. "That didn't sound too good."_

* * *

-Present day-

"What are you going on about?" Adam blinked, still lazing in the infirmary bed.

"I want to know what it is you're hiding from us." Kid said sternly as the two partook in some sort of extreme staring contest.

"I dunno what you're talking about." Adam held his gaze.

"Whatever secret you think you're protecting L.J. by keeping is only costing us time." Kid snapped back.

"Kid." Mary said calmly, stepping between the two of them. "We don't know anything. After the incident… L.J. was different. We never really said anything, and we all pretended we forgot about it, but… she's got a lot of conflict inside her. We can sense it when we exchange energies, but she won't talk to us about it. So I'm sorry, but we don't know."

Kid processed the information before taking a step back. "Then who does?"

"Ten pounds says they don't figure it out in time." Joey said, swinging his legs back and worth on the edge of the cliff.

"They'll figure it out. Your girlfriend ought to be remembering by now." Mike said solemnly.

"Will she risk the consequences by telling them what she knows?" Peter mused, a hint of cynicism in his voice. "It seems unlikely."

"You know, I never got her number…" Joey recalled, scratching his chin.

"I doubt she has a phone, Joey."

"Oh yeah. Maybe I should get her one."

Pete glanced at Mike in an 'are-you-sure-we're-related-to-him' sort of way before shrugging.

"She's not the same as she was before. She'll tell them." Mike rubbed the back of his neck.

"It'll be cutting it close. Should we interfere?"

"Hm. No." Mike shook his head. "That'll only solve the obvious problem. It'll work out better if we let them play it out themselves."

Peter nodded, although he obviously didn't have the same faith as his brother.

"Don't worry. I'm confident they'll put our cousin back in her box in time."

"Which box?"

Kira was leaning on the wall, chewing her thumbnail quietly. She didn't look up when she heard footsteps.

"Kira? You alright?"

"Hi Isaac. You make up with Mary yet?" She asked blankly.

"Hah? Oh. Not yet."

"I'm sorry."

"Forget it. We've got more important troubles now."

Kira nodded. "Isaac… we're friends, right?"

"Hm? Sure." Isaac shrugged. "What's wrong?"

"What if I told you… I did a bad thing."

"'A bad thing'?"

"A lot of bad things. But I… I didn't-"

"Hey." Isaac placed a hand on Kira's shoulder, making her look up. "Everyone does bad stuff sometimes. We screw up, it happens. But it doesn't mean we're bad people."

"But-"

"Trust me, Kira. You're a good person."

Kira looked away, but Isaac could tell she had some sort of new fire in her by the determined look in her eyes.

"I know where L.J. is."

* * *

_-Flashback-_

_I parked my bike in front of the school, and looked around. Mary had called me from a school phone, so she had to be here somewhere. I stepped onto the sidewalk, and carefully made my way up the steps. The school was pitch dark and still as I reached the front door. It was unlocked and swung open easily. Hm. I didn't really mind the dark, letting my eyes adjust as I navigated through the halls based mostly on memory. The classrooms were sealed, instruments untouched as they leaned against the walls in their cases. And then I came to the steel elevator, standing at the end of the corridor. Rummaging through my pocket, I pulled out my school card. Sliding it into the slot, watching the green light flicker on. The elevator groaned to life, and I waited cautiously. Everything seemed innocent enough… what could be going on that the Jr. Elements couldn't handle?_

_**Ding.**_

_I looked up as the elevator doors slid open, and stepped inside. I scanned my thumbprint against a button-shaped circle of glass, and the elevator door glided shut. With a tug at my stomach, there was a strong pull downwards. It took about three minutes to reach descend the three miles beneath the art school, and I waited through them anxiously. When the elevator jerked to a stop, I watched the doors slid open, and my breath caught._

_"What the hell?"_

_The lobby was trashed. Cracks in the tiles, light fixtures sparking as they dangled of the ceiling- and was that Mrs. Kent's phone on fire? I stepped carefully down the halls, suddenly becoming aware of all movement around me. The hall I walked down was cold marble, so my steps were even more strained to remain quiet. The walls were of glass, the right hand side giving me a view of "The Tank", a huge aquatic area, while the left side showed me the firing range._

_We were British. We handled our Covert Operations in the awesomest of fashions._ _As I walked, I began to notice cracks in the glass. What had happened? Doubling my pace, but still trying to be silent, eventually I found myself going down the stairs. After a while, it began harder to maintain by sense of alertness. Everything was so quiet. But the deeper I went, the more chaotic things became- desks overturned, bulletin boards shattered, papers burning. The bathroom was flooded, a toilet spewing its own geyser. I wandered around a few more minutes, following the destruction and becoming more anxious as blood began to smear the walls. I was walking down another hall, much deeper in the Academy when I peered into the room beside me through the windows lining the walls. It was an indoor woodland biome, we used it for strategic practice, paintball and capture the flag. The fluorescent lights hanging to the ceiling were flickering, illuminating the various trees that had been snapped in two. A new surge of adrenaline surged through me as I rounded the corner and fumbled my way through the shattered doorway. A shard of glass nicked my knee, but I ignored it, beginning to sprint through the underground woodland. My shoes caught themselves on surfaced roots and my arms got scratched by branches so many times I had to strongly resist the urge to kick a tree._

_**CRACK.**_

_I skidded to a stop and ducked behind a tree and trunk a few meters away shattered._

_"ADAM!" Mary's voice screamed from somewhere ahead._

_My heart turned cold and my breath caught. Peering out from behind the tree, I saw flickers of the conflict going on in the clearance some distance away, and my gaze moved to Adam, who was lying still in the grass. I crept closer, ducking low until I was at his side._

_"Adam." I whispered._ _"Ugg…" He groaned, twitching. "Bitch."_

_I looked up, through the foliage. And just like that, my world shattered around me._

_"L.J.-"_

_"No." I didn't dare blink, or close my eyes or move. "__**No.**__"_

_"Yes!" Adam hissed, trying to stand up. "L.J. Please."_

_We both looked up in alarm as Leah's scream suddenly sliced through the air. I turned and looked into Adam's frantic, desperate eyes._

_Please._

_My lips twitched like they wanted to say something, but there were no words for this moment. So I offered Adam my hand._

* * *

**A/N Oh, hey. Author here. Just letting you know, this is where chapter 11 would have ended, and chapter 12 would have begun. Congrats, you just read 3,000 words of my insanity. So uh, call this intermission. Use the bathroom, get a snack, whatever. **

**OAS out.**

* * *

"Hey Kira."

Kira flinched as she glanced to the side of the balcony on the outdoor courtyard of DWMA. Overlooking the city sadly, she slumped down. She'd been crying.

"What do you want." It wasn't a question, but a dull statement, as if she didn't really care to know the answer.

"Rough day, huh?" Joey was sitting on the edge of the patio wall, his feet swinging leisurely over the dark abyss below.

"You know your cousin is missing, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know. She'll turn up."

Kira snorted.

"Now don't be like that. I know what you want."

"Doubt it."

"Answers, maybe?"

Kira fixed him with a stare. "You knew."

"Yeah. But enough of that. We got other worries, don't we?" Joey nodded in the direction of the rising moon.

"Huh?" Kira looked out over the dark desert, beyond Death City's walls, and struggled to focus on the faint glow in the distance. "What is that?"

"That would be the Uruk-Hai, fresh from Isengard."

"What?"

"Ah, the enemy. That would be the enemy."

Kira's eyes grew wide. "I remember. They're trying to keep us busy and away from L.J."

"Yup."

"But-"

"Kira. You wanna help L.J., right?"

Kira looked up, alarmed. "Of course I do!"

"Well, then I guess you'll just have to trust me." Joey held out his hand.

"She… drew us a map?" Mary looked at the paper laid out before them. "Seriously?"

"Her timing sucks ass." Adam said, looking it over. "Where's this go, anyway?"

"I dunno." Isaac shrugged. "Kira just drew it for me and then ran off, I can't find her. I'm a little worried."

Mary folded her arms and looked away as Leah inspected the map.

"It's the best option we have at the moment."

"Hey, guys? You might wanna take a look out the window." Liz pointed.

"What is that?" Mary rushed over to the sill.

"It looks like…"

"An army?"

* * *

_-Flashback-_

_"I'll ask again." She said calmly, slamming Isaac into a tree. "Where's my sister?"_

_"Bite me." Isaac spat, drops of blood splattering onto the dirt._

_"Let's try something else." Rachel slung the bow that was Mary off his shoulder. "Tell me where she is, or I'll destroy her."_

_"Hey!"_

_**BAM. **__There was a blast of blue light, and Rachel dropped Mary to the ground._

_I stepped out of the clearing, pointing Adam in his shotgun form at my older sister._

_My mentor. My idol._

_"You asked for me?" I tried my best to keep the quaking out of my voice._

_Adam's soul didn't mesh perfectly with mine by any means, but we'd been friends for long enough to know how to work together. But I could sense his wavelength reaching out to an unconscious Leah, blood was dripping from her forehead. I slung him off my shoulder and tossed him in Leah's direction._

_"Go to her, get her out as quick as you can!"_

_"Not so fast!" Rachel sent a ripple of dark energy, and smacked Adam full in the head, causing him to slump over, unmoving. "Ah. Nice of you to join us, L.J., I've been looking all over for you. Didn't fall asleep somewhere, did you?"_

_"Not this time." I gritted my teeth in an attempt to keep the tears of my panic at bay. "Rachel, what's gotten into you? You're not yourself! J-just calm down and we'll figure out what's-"_

_I was caught off as Rachel burst into the sickest, most twisted fits of laughter I'd ever heard._

_"L.J., you shouldn't have come!" Mary hissed, her face pale as she clutched the slowly healing gash in her side._

_"What are you talking about? You called me!"_

_"I told you to find your cousins or your mom!"_

_"You never said anything _like_ that!" I turned from our bickering as Rachel's laughter died._

_"I remember the day she brought you home. Everybody was so happy- 'Life Junior.' Even before I heard that name she gave you, I knew. Do have any idea what it meant for me! ? All that I had worked for! ? The shame and humiliation I endured, to have everyone see me be REPLACED! ?"_

_"What? Rachel, I-"_

_"There's only one reason a God creates a fragment, Life Junior!" Rachel raged. "To carry on the line of responsibility! Why else would she have made you! ? And now everybody knows that my mother saw me as unworthy to take her place! But look at you. Pathetic, sweet little L.J. Always running off, always having something else she'd rather be doing. You could do anything you wanted and you ran around the streets with a bunch of alley scum! You lazy, worthless, ungrateful little __**BRAT!**__"_

_"AGH!" I hadn't even registered her movement before being roundhouse kicked to the ground._

_The earth cracked and split, dirt and grit scraping against my skin as my head spun._

_"Rachel…" I inched into a sitting position. "What- we're sisters! I thought you-"_

_"Thought what? Who could love a thing like you, who's more trouble than it's worth?"_

_I began to shake violently, from my core outwards. Fear. I was terrified of my sister. The Phoenix. She was infinitely stronger than me, and now she was going to wipe me clean out of existence._

_"Goodbye, sister. You were amusing for a time, but now I think it's time for you to leave." Rachel grabbed me by the collar and hurled me through the air, until I hit something much harder and more solid than a tree._

_The cement wall- we'd reached the edge of the biodome. I skidded down it, somehow managing to stay standing with my back leaning on the wall, only to get kicked to the ground again. I felt her foot pressing painfully on the soft cavity that was my stomach, stars swimming before my eyes as my breath became more haggard._

_"After all, who needs a worthless piece of trash like you when there's a Champion like me! ?"_

_"Rache-"_

_"Shut up, dammit, I'm talking now!" She screamed. "I'm the __**best,**__ you hear me! ? The BEST! You're just some little punk. Everyone will see me surpass even our mother before the end."_

_"What! ?" I spluttered, squirming under the pressure of her boot. "Mom-"_

_"Mother made her choice! She chose you, and discarded me! So fine. I'll become the Guardian Angel all on my own."_

_She was crazy! I looked into her eyes, desperate to find, hope, but what I saw nearly broke me (or maybe that was her foot). Her eyes held a certain darkness I knew I'd seen before. But only in-_

_"A Kishin Egg." I choked out. "You've been feeding on innocent souls!"_

_Rachel growled low from the back of her throat. "I will be stronger. I will defeat our Mother. I'm not some piece of a puzzle that can be taken out and replaced."_

_Human souls. No Godling had ever become an egg before, and I couldn't beat Rachel anyway. But suddenly, this sort of burning sensation began to spread across my soul._

_"Ah-!" Rachel's soul perception sensed it._

_"Spheres? They won't do you much good now. I'll kill you, and the lines will go to me. And let's face it, little sister. You wouldn't have made a very good Guardian Angel anyway. You don't think I see you? I see everything. And you're _**dead inside."**

_My eyes went glassy. I… it wasn't true… if I wanted… I could… My body began to shake again, but not from fear- my soul was having the equivalent of a nervous breakdown. I was going to die by my idol's hand. My eyes flitted to my friends- Isaac, beaten to a bloody mess on the grass; Mary finally unconscious from blood loss; Adam with Leah, both unmoving. I was alone. Rachel seemed to read my thought pattern._

_"You'll always be alone, silly girl. That's what Life is. Eternal loneliness. But don't worry, your soul will always exist in me. After I eat it, that is."_

_And even though a part of me despaired at her words, I couldn't look away from my friends. They'd been there for me. Accepted me. They didn't think I was dead, and they had been my family. They had confronted my sister in an un-winnable battle just to buy me some time. My fists clenched. My sister had forced me into a grave. But I wasn't going alone._

_The burning in my core blazed even more intensely, and my thoughts began to slip away. My soul was piloting my body now, not my mind. I couldn't directly control my actions, but my soul could feel everything, and it knew just what to do. Rachel had stepped off me, had lifted me up by the collar again. She was speaking, but I didn't register her words. I just grabbed her wrists, and wrenched them off my shirt. The look on her face was priceless, but I didn't really notice it as I shoved her off me and stood up straight. I didn't look, but one of the sphere lines on my stomach had completely connected- a thin black stripe winding all around my waist._

_Rachel was screaming at me now, but all I heard was the pounding of my own wavelength's rhythmic beat as it pulsated around me. I drew my hand back, and slammed my palm directly between her eyes. I didn't feel impact- just an odd resistance as my hand slipped past her skull and tore something bright and non-corporeal straight out of her._

_Her body hit the floor. And above my palm hovered a twisted, horrific soul that had been bent from devouring innocents. It looked like it had once been bright purple, with six seraphim wings and a crown perched atop it. But now the wings were charred, the crown warped, and the color infected by red and black hexagonal plates spreading over its surface. The whole soul was engulfed in red flames._

_A fallen angel's soul._

_Something within me, a voice told me that no one could eat it- a Godling's corrupted soul could bring untold chaos and pain to the devourer, at best killing them. At worst…_

_I felt my other hand rise, and a swirl of black smoke began to spiral in the air before me. A portal? I drew back, and swung the soul like a Frisbee, my lips barely muttering the words,_

_"Angel's Judgment Alpha- Soul Banishment."_

_But before my sister's soul could get swallowed, it seemed to trigger a self- destruct, shattering itself. Most of the pieces were sucked into darkness nonetheless, but a single shard of black soul hurtled towards me. My soul was swelled around me in a huge violet orb- almost identical to how Rachel's once was, now with three black lines gracing it's right side. The shard hit and dissolved into my own wavelength, causing me to stumble back. The black smoke shrunk into nothing, eventually disappearing. My sphere receded, so that they were once again three half-complete streaks. I didn't feel my knees hit the ground, and before I knew it, I had collapsed beside my sister's body._

_My mother was gone one week later, leaving only a note on my bedroom door._

* * *

-Present-

"So it's decided." Kid said, folding his arms. "I'll check out the map's location. This way there will still be people to defend the school from the attack, and I'll be mobile enough to return quickly if it's a dead end."

"Hold up there, Emo Boy." Adam said, and Kid visibly raised his eyebrow in response to L.J.'s old nickname of him, "L.J.'s our friend. Like we're gonna entrust her rescue to a guy who can be stopped by a lopsided door."

"In your current state, you'll only slow me down." Kid said hotly.

"'Current state?' I can kick your arse into the next time zone, pal!"

"Hey!" Mary shouted, waving her arms. "We don't have time for fighting. No offense Kid, but you're weakness isn't exactly a secret, and if L.J., John and Damian are in trouble… We may not have our powers, but we're still meister-weapon teams, and we still heal. Adam and Isaac are going with you. The rest of us will stay behind and hold the fort."

Isaac folded his arms- the fact that she'd separated herself from him had not gone unnoticed, but no one said anything. The Elementals were closely intertwined and could wield each other well enough during a short separation.

"Fine. But we're leaving now, and we'll need alternate means of transportation." Kid said.

"Alternate means of transportation? Like what?" Adam asked.

"Hm…" Maka hummed. "I think I have an idea."

**-Five Minutes Later-**

"You punks get one scratch on my car, and there'll be hell to pay!" Spirit waved his fist and shouted after the retreating vehicle as it sped away from the City, followed by a cloud of dust.

They skirted over the dunes, away from the approaching army and into the desert.

"O-kay." Isaac said, looking over the map as Adam drove. "A map drawn by a schizophrenic missile-launcher. How hard could it be?"

**-Ten Minutes Later-**

"You're reading it wrong!" Kid scolded, peering over his shoulder.

"What's to read! ? It's a drawing!"

**-Fifteen Minutes Later-**

"Are we there yet! ? The army must be at the school by now!"

"We'll get there when we get there!"

**-Two Minutes Later-**

"We're going the wrong way." Isaac said defiantly, as Adam skimmed the map with one hand on the wheel.

"Relax, with the map we'll be fi-"

_Swish._

A catch of breeze swept the map from his hand, and into the night air.

…

They all stared blankly through the dark in the direction the paper had flown off, before Isaac and Kid fixed angry stares on their driver.

"Well, ahem… We'll just have to go on our _instinct!"_

"How are we gonna find our way home, exactly?"

"We'll figure it out as we go."

* * *

"What are these things! ?" Liz exclaimed, as the horde of mobile skeletons charged the school, only to be kept back by the various student teams.

She and Patti had been left behind, for their safety and to defend the school with the other distance weapons.

"I don't know, but they won't stay down for long!" Leah was standing at the city gates, firing arrows of soul wavelength with Mary.

Maka swiped through the skeletons with ease, only for them piece themselves together again, and Black Star was literally everywhere- flitting here and there, shouting "YAHOO" and leaving shattered bones in his wake. The skeletons weren't skilled fighters, but they healed so quickly and could reform as such monstrous creatures that it was fairly difficult to stay on top.

"I just hope the others are alright." Liz muttered, firing shots into the coming mass of enemies.

* * *

Night had fallen as I stared out the window and watched shrubs drift in the breeze. We were out in the country, near the ruined town where I found Kira. The Workshop, huh? It was an old stone tower, almost entirely lined with mirrors. I guess I could have slit my finger and used the blood to call Lord Death for help, but I didn't. This was my purpose now. To continue to protect my friends. I recalled what John and Damian had said in the car-

_"She thinks eating human souls made her stronger, but Rachel lost the right to become Guardian Angel's chosen when she became a kishin egg. If she devours your soul, the Spheres will incinerate her. She'll be gone."_

_"We're sorry L.J. But you can't imagine what she's had us do. All we want is to be free from our contract. And the world'll be a safer place without her, you know it."_

I did know it. So I would do this… Mom could make a new fragment. A better one. But this was my mess to clean up.

"L.J.?"

"Yeah?" I turned around, and saw Damian. "What is it?"

"Ah…. It's ready."

"Okay."

Damian looked puzzled for a moment, but wasn't sure what to say. "You… don't seem upset."

I shrugged.

"I'm not mad, Damian." He was silent, but I tried to reassure him with a smile. "I'll be right up."

Things like her and I… we're not supposed to exist.

He nodded in a disconcerted sort of way, but left. I stretched my arms and cracked my neck lightly, looking around. I never really noticed how beautiful the stars were out here. The city lights back home always seemed to outshine them. My heart ached a moment at the thought of home, but I steeled it and the feeling ebbed away. I missed mom. But she'd make a new fragment, one that would be everything Rachel and I weren't. I only wish I could see the look on Kid's face when he married someone fifteen years younger than him. I turned to one of the mirrors, and watched a shadow slip around behind me.

_'Don't you see, little one? Things were always meant to turn out this way.'_

"Yes." I agreed, feeling the shadow encircling me.

"…I think we'll be okay now."

* * *

_**CRASH!**_

"Ugh…" Adam cleared his head with a shake.

"Dude!" Isaac jumped out of the passenger seat. "Death Scythe told us not to scratch his car!"

"I couldn't help it! It just came out of nowhere!" Adam exclaimed, examining the crushed front-end of the car which had full on collided with a low brick wall.

"Be that as it may, it appears we've reached our destination." Kid nodded to the old, stone tower that stood up ahead.

"Huh. Alright then." Adam shifted into his shotgun form, and Isaac slung him over his shoulder.

"Let's check it out. You'll be alright without your partners?"

"Our enemy is a Godling turned Kishin Egg. I couldn't risk bringing them."

"Be _that_ as it may-"

"I'll be fine."

"O-Kay. The place looks a bit empty, with that army being sent to the school, but someone must be guarding it…"

"I agree."

* * *

"Damian. You see that there?" John nodded out the window.

"Some idiot crashed their crappy car into our wall!" Damian exclaimed. "Let's go teach 'em a lesson!"

John stood up, shifting his full arm into a dagger, but Damian grabbed his shoulder.

"Hold on… Let them come."

"What?" John turned around. "What's this all of a sudden?"

"I think they call it character development. Just… forget about them."

"Damian, if Rachel's not killed, we'll never get out of our contract."

"I know."

* * *

"What's the plan?" I asked casually, walking beside my own reflection and up the stairs.

_'You seem oddly compliant.'_

"Like you said, you're the best. Me banishing you was only borrowed time. You connected yourself to me on purpose?"

_'I needed a bond to this world to help me climb out of the in-between. But I'll be needing that shard I lent you, as well as the lines you stole from me.'_

"Right."

_'I had a friend modify the serum for me."_

"You have a friend?"

_'Hilarious.'_

"So that's what neutralized my powers?"

_'This one is different. Once we had the serum from the syringe, she was able to multiply it. See, the way it kills Forces, is that it separates their wavelength from their body. Kind of like what you did to me. Only permanent. And a bit more painful.'_

"Your Witch friend sounds smart."

_'Hm.'_

"Too bad you had John and Damian kill her."

_'I needed to cover my tracks, and the DWMA was looking for her. So I tricked a decoy witch into getting caught by the Academy.'_

"A decoy?"

_'That's right. The story's a bit longer than that thought. You see, I've started to become a little bit suspicious of your partners, L.J. It seems their no longer happy in my employment.'_

"Yeah, I picked up on that too."

_'My friend was only along for the ride to impress her family, prove that she was evil, or whatever. But I had other uses for her which she would not have agreed to.'_

"Sounds like you."

_'I don't think I'll be needing her anymore after this, though. You can keep her.'_

I stopped in my tracks, and the ribbon of shadow that only showed up in the mirrors stopped too.

"Keep her?"

* * *

"Never do that again." Kira panted, grasping her head.

"Oh, come on." Joey said, looking around. "It wasn't that bad."

A faint sweet scent lingered in the air, as Joey transported them to a rocky cliff face out in the desert.

"Go on, take a look around."

Kira sighed, and rotated on the spot, before her gaze rested on the tower. Suddenly, there was an explosion of emotion, and all the voices inside her began to talk at once.

_"We're back!'_

_"Don't make us go in!"_

_"Nonononono-"_

"Let go of me!" Kira struggled against Joey's grasp as he stopped her from stepping back. "You can't make me go in! Get off!"

"L.J. is in there, and she needs your help! Are you just going to break down and leave her there! ?"

"You go in!"

"It has to be you, Kira!" Joey kept a firm hold on her. "And you're partly responsible for this!"

Kira stopped, her hands violently trembling.

"I don't want to…" Her eyes began to tear up, and her knees became weak. "Why, _why_…"

_'She's not a witch.'_ Rachel said, swirling around the mirrors. _'But her family is. When she was born a weapon, you can imagine the confusion and anger that went around. Her family in particular was a group of renegades with a cult following, famous for their hatred of weapons- I think you heard of them from John and Damian…'_

My teeth clenched.

_'But she was still a smart girl. Tried so hard to please her family by studying different methods of black magic, and became rather skilled in the ways of potion-making. She heard of my plan to destroy Lady Life, and volunteered her services, in exchange for partial credit in the mayhem it would cause. She made the solutions which drove the boys at the school mad and made the students at the football field fall asleep, and she even suggested an enemy of her family to sacrificed as the decoy witch John and Damian killed. She modified the serum-'_

"Kira's my friend!" I snapped out.

Echoing, detached laughter filled the hall.

_'Naïve girl, you have no friends! Your partners have betrayed you, your new associate is a monster, and the Elemental brats have more important things to deal with than find you, if they aren't too terrified to leave the school without their powers. But I suppose Kira did have her uses, up to a point.'_

"What d'you mean?"

_'One advantage I have in this state: I can easily manipulate the minds of mortals. Kira, your 'friend' was a very disturbed girl, having grown up with that family of hers. With my doubts towards John and Damian, I needed a reliable spy who would still do my bidding. And from what I learned from your previous partners, the reliable spy is one who doesn't know she's a spy at all."_

"A sleeper agent."

_'That's right. I could turn her on and off, from intelligent witch to clueless weapon, and still have her under my control. But there were certain, unfortunate side affects.'_

"The schizophrenia and personality disorders." My hands began to tremble. "And what now, now that she's no more use to you? You'll leave her be?"

_'I said you could keep her, didn't I? She may be more twisted than even you are, but she's got a weapon's soul. She'll have a… relatively normal life. I say I did her a favor. She may not be sane, but she's away from her family and not setting everything in sight ablaze, I'd ask you for a thank-you if your weren't already being so cooperative.'_

I hated her. Hated her with a blazing, fiery passion, matched only by how much I hated myself. But it didn't change much.

"Let's just go."

_'Yes, yes, no time to waste.'_

"**L.J.!"**

I froze. Oh shit.

Closing my eyes with an internal groan, I turned around.

Kid was here. Dammit.

He wasn't armed, but rather looking like he'd been in a car wreck and ran all the way up here without stopping.

_'Who the hell is this idiot?_' Rachel demanded.

"Don't worry." I spoke to the air. "He won't stop us."

**Yeah… like I said, Mood Whiplash. I know this was supposed to be a shaking chapter(s), but I couldn't resist the urge to add some semblance of humor in here and there.**


	13. Shattered Glass

**Black and Gold- Chapter 13**

**HOLY FUCK I'M ALIVE.**

**You would not believe what I've been through.**

**I've missed this. But every time I wanted to write I get that 'I should be doing…' pang of guilt that I hate so damn much. The update after this one won't be nearly as delayed (like that's possible), I swear. **

**So I had about two hours of free time, right? I decide, 'hell to it. I'm gonna watch some anime while I do my school work.' Next thing you know I'm watching episode 6 again and I realize I've paused the screen to check out Emo Boy's ass. Don't look at me that way. Then I started reading my old reviews, which guilted me into re-opening this document.**

**And lo it was so. Be ware of my rustiness.**

Mary was not best pleased. After weeks of confusion and danger, her boyfriend had all but dumped her, her best friend was a liar, and there was a rejected Halloween prop trying to impale her with it's own knee. Unpleasant.

It's not that she didn't care about Isaac. She did. Hooking up with one of the Elemental guys always seemed like something she was _meant _to do. They'd be bound together forever; it seemed almost obligatory, and once Leah and Adam were together, there was even more pressure to match up with Isaac. Mary confessed to at first finding him a little boring. He was too nice, too normal… but now she supposed that's what made him so special- by grounding the rest of them and keeping them sane. So didn't she love him? She'd contemplated saying so more than once, but never did. Maybe she never should have gotten with him at all, but the thought of never holding him, never having that first kiss… Ugh, this was all so confusing! Mary was the element of water- ever changing and hard to grasp; moody and not wanting to be confined. Commitment was difficult for her.

It was far easier to figure out how she felt about L.J.'s situation. After some consideration, Mary decided that she was actually quite furious. Recent scandal aside, the five of them were supposed to be there for each other no matter what. They'd stuck by one another throughout their whole childhood. They supported L.J. during her sister's betrayal; didn't she think they were worth trusting? For the Guardian Angel to have soul corruption was something that'd massively damage her reputation as successor if it went public, but why didn't L.J. at least show a hint of what she'd been going through? But that was the worst of it all. There were no hints. Mary had never suspected a damn thing. And they were meant to be best friends!

"Mary… uh, are you okay?"

Mary started- apparently her aura had taken a darker turn, concerning Leah.

"… I want to try something."

* * *

"Hey! What… are you _doing_?" Kira demanded, stomping along the stone roof of the tower.

"Check it out." Damian snickered, pointing at the darkness below. "Adam's totally lost in the maze."

Kira glanced over the edge, and sure enough, saw a silhouette wandering through the hedges.

"Nice."

John rolled his eyes, and looked Kira up and down. "So, are you really you, or are you in Witch mode?"

Kira scowled. "Bit of both."

"Oh, so you remember eh?" Damian mused, still looking over the edge,

"Yes." Kira sat on the cold stone, watching the desert sky glitter above as the moon dribbled blood down it's chin. "This was my lair. I lent it to Rachel for her research… Before she turned me into a spy…. and before that I was the youngest daughter of the Bat Clan, a coven-

"-who enjoys running an illegal magical underground and conning fanatics into killing weapons for them." John finished.

"…Sorry about that."

Damian shrugged. "Pfft, look, he's totally cheating by climbing over the wall!"

Kira quirked her brow but didn't respond. "L.J.'s about to kill herself, you know."

"Hah? Oh we know, we're the ones who put her up to it. We know you know, because you're the one who built the machine and modified the serum. Now that we all know that we know what we know, what of it?"

She set her jaw. "Are you willing to let your partner die? You were together, hell you _resonated _for years. Does escaping the contract mean that much to you?"

"You know what a monster Rachel is. This is the way to do her in, and the world needs her gone. She's powerful enough without crossing over. A couple more years with that life line hooked in L.J., who knows what might happen?"

"Don't pretend to care about that!" Kira snapped. "Because you don't. Either way you're just going to slink off to some dark corner and disappear when this is over. I slaved for a family who hated me, and you've been running away, alone, since your family betrayed you. So we're all traitors and cowards, and L.J. took us in anyway!"

"L.J. does these things because that's who she is, and because it's what has to be done. She needed a friend then and she needs to kill her sister now. That's all." John folded his arms.

"You don't honestly believe that." Kira clenched her fists. "L.J. went out of her way to help us and you know it."

"Because she didn't know who we were!"

"But we knew her. We knew what kind of person she was, and we betrayed her anyway."

"Yeah, because we're bad people, alright? Jesus." Damian muttered.

"No. No, you're just saying that to justify your actions. It's just so damn _easy _to say, 'oh we're bad people, the end.' Bullshit. We don't get to use that excuse. We've been through hell, and we're weak because of the decisions we made to try and get out of bad situations. But we're not bad people. L.J. saw something in us, now we have an obligation to her. She gave me a friend, someone I could trust and depend on! Someone who wouldn't just turn around and stab me in the back, or string me along until I wasn't useful anymore! Rachel played all of us to get to her. On that _alone_ we should stand up and at least try to do something!"

The boys stared at the girl in silence.

"Whoa. You've been rehearsing that since you found out, haven't you?"

"Just shut up and get that idiot out of the maze."

* * *

Ugh, what a cluster fuck this is turning out to be.

"What're you doing here?" I asked with a sigh, sliding my hands into the pockets of my jacket.

There was no glass on the windows of the tower, allowing dust to blow in with the cold desert night's wind. It skittered across the cracked stone floors and scraped at the mirrors, which were already covered with a fine layer of grit and dust. But it didn't blur my view of the wispy shadow that circled my many reflections.

"I could ask you the same." Kid wasn't armed, but I had to admit that he didn't look pleased. "The Junior Elementals lost their powers some time ago. What happened? Where are John and Damian?"

"They're fine." I said passively, adjusting the jacket on my shoulders. "Everything's fine."

He looked at me analytically. "… They told me about your sister."

I froze a moment, but then rested my hands on the small of my back. "Did they tell you what happened to her soul?"

He narrowed his eyes slightly, wondering why that was important. "…You banished it."

"Right…"

Four years of painted smiles and stuffed fears, and I was going to die tonight, so screw it. Let me come go a little crazy and tell the truth for once. I'd earned it. So I rubbed my neck and placed a hand over my heart.

"Did you know that we're made of the same stuff? We're both essentially clones of my mother, so we're almost identical. Even our souls looked the same, once."

"You're nothing like her, if that's what you're getting at." Kid said, taking a step closer. "Now let's go. There's an attack going on at the school, we can return to destroy this wretched place later."

"I really wanted to be. Like her, I mean." I zoned out thoughtfully, making no move for the exit. "She was so perfect. I could never understand why mother would make me at all. As if she needed another successor, when I'd never measure up to her anyways. Because you know, I never _really_ got rid of Rachel."

"Your friends mentioned that she might be contacting you from the other world." Kid was looking at me with a mixture of anxiety, uncertainty and suspicion. "Does this have something to do with what's wrong with your soul?"

Ah. So he shook my friends down for the answers. Inconvenient, but I secretly wanted him to know the truth, to make him hate me and to drive him away.

"Don't you get it? I'm _broken." _I bit my lip, and leaned against the cool glass of one of the mirrors. "After I… extracted Rachel's soul, it shattered itself before going into the in-between. We're made of the same stuff remember? We _fit_ together." I let this sink in, but the pause didn't last long.

He was a smart boy after all; he'd catch on fast. In the meantime, I kept talking.

"How do you think she found her way out of the in-between? She used _me_ as an anchor. She's inside me. Sometimes she'll try to give me trouble, but it's mostly just nightmares." I made a 'pop' sound with my lips resignedly. "I've got something to do now, alright? Go home. Tell them I'm not worth looking for."

_Swish._

In a flicker of movement, I saw Kid standing in front of me; skateboard in hand, blocking the path to the stairs. We stood that way a moment. He seemed unsure of how to address me, but there was still a blaze in his eyes. Of course. Kid was the kind of guy who was all about honor and ideals. Getting rid of him wouldn't be so easy.

"L.J., I can't understand what you're feeling... but giving into dark forces isn't the answer."

Dark forces. Really. If only I could see the world so black and white.

"What you don't _understand_ is what she is." I said coldly. "I'm not doing this to throw a tantrum, you know! I have to, I don't have a choice."

"That's a lie and you're a coward for telling yourself otherwise!" Kid snapped back.

"You don't know what I'm doing!" Not that I could actually _tell_ him with Rachel hovering there, but it was worth pointing out.

"I know that there's always a choice, and you're making a mistake!"

"And choice between what and what! ?" I demanded. "You're the golden boy with all the answers, so please, _enlighten_ me! I'm doing what's necessary! Against her I'm nothing, you understand! Nothing! You just don't get it! This is war, and if I can't finish this, it's over! I'm not worth-"

_Smack._

I stumbled back, mouth open, stunned. Even Rachel seemed surprised. After what felt like ages after the initial impact, a dull pain began to throb in my cheek. I looked up to see Kid folding his arms angrily.

"Did… did you just hit me?"

"I really dislike hitting girls." He said with unrepentant distaste. "But what you said is inexcusable! How dare you demean yourself that way!"

Most girls would be upset at being punched, but the lifestyle people like us lived made violence simply a means of communication, regardless of gender. Besides, my brain was busy slowly processing his words.

"_Excuse me?" _I glared at him, daring him to elaborate,

"You're a leader! People look up to, and depend on you." There was a passion in Kid's voice now, a new straightness to his posture, "By demoting yourself to garbage you're only copping out of the responsibility that comes with being Life's daughter. Godlings aren't just fragments, they're inspirations! Symbols of hope and security for the future! The Junior Elements practically worship you, and you're willing to abandon them because of what? You feel sorry for yourself? You're right, you don't deserve the position of Life's successor, but not because you were inadequate compared to your sister. You don't deserve it because you'd rather pity and breed contempt for yourself than suck it up and deal with it. If not for yourself, than you should at least do it for those who love you and accept you despite your flaws! Do you have any idea how hard I work to prove myself? I dream of having people with such faith in my abilities as a leader; to invest their lives in me the way your friends do!"

"They… I didn't… " I blinked rapidly, trying to rationalize.

Kid genuinely believed what he was selling. The whole "obligation and future leaders" thing. I shouldn't have been too surprised, Kid practically kept his father as a pedestal, believing that he'd be Reaper one day and repel the evils of the universe. Aside form symmetry, bring peace and order to the world was the only thing I'd seen Kid genuinely passionate or sensitive about. Proving himself a capable leader was what he lived for. Naïve as it was…his faith in his father made my relationship with my mother look especially dysfunctional in comparison.

But it didn't matter- if Rachel, a kishin egg, ate my soul then my Sphere lines would destroy her. This was my only shot, my only chance to save John, Damien, Kira and who knows how many innocent others. She wasn't even completely out of the in-between yet and she'd already done so much damage! Either I did this… or I did nothing and let her continue to destroy people's lives. My self esteem- pitiful though it may admittedly be- had nothing to do with anything. Shaking myself, I lowered my hands.

"…Please move."

"No."

"Ki-"

"_No._"

I glared at him exasperatedly for a moment.

"Why."

"_Because you're better than her."_

I froze. "What… what did you say?"

"You're stronger than she is, L.J. She was a selfish monster. But people care about you, and they trust you with their lives. You have the capacity to be a great leader, not because you're ruthless, or a genius, or miracle worker like a Phoenix. It's because you're a good person. You've been fighting Rachel all this time, and it's clear to me that you'd make a great Guardian Angel."

My mouth flapped open and closed as my mind tried to regain coherence. "Ah-"

"_You're not buying this are you?" _Rachel cackled, swimming through the air. _"Sorry, but he's just buttering you up so you don't do something messy. What does he know? Why should he care about you? Does he know what a mess you are? Hell, are the two of you even _friends_? Does he know what I am? I _am _the Phoenix. Who would miss you when you're gone?_ _I'd have done a better job than a lazy, absent minded _child _like you ever could. He doesn't know it yet, but he'll be glad to be rid of you. Why'd he want some emotionally unstable punk? Just wait until I'm out. I'll deal with mother, and make this world into something beyond anyone's wildest imaginings!"_

She continued to ramble about her "plans" for the new world, apparently forgetting she was talking to me. I stumbled back slightly, almost covering up my ears before remembering I was hearing her in my thoughts.

"She's here isn't she?" Kid noted my discomfort, looking around and assuming a defensive stance.

I sighed distantly. "She's so much stronger than me, or you. There's no apologizing for some of the things I've done, but I _am_ sorry, please believe me. I never meant for you to get caught up in my mess."

But I can still fix this.

I cracked my neck, resigned to my fate. No point getting worked up anymore. What was there to be upset about when everything would disappear in a matter of moments? Kid was still standing there, and the mixture of disappointment and frustration in his eyes told me that he knew there was no talking to me anymore. It just wasn't enough.

"But here's the thing." I said, stretching. "…You're still standing in my way."

_CRASH._

Glass shattered everywhere, shards flying in all directions. I got cut in a few places, but my body was soon pushing out the glittering splinters, retracting the blood and closing up the wounds. He'd swiftly ducked my kick, allowing my leg to strike one of the mirrors.

"You don't have to do this." Kid said, and the tone of his voice clearly said 'stand down or I'll beat you down like I did during the orange-smoke.'

"I won't hold back this time." I said, stepping towards him.

"If you refuse to see reason, then I won't hold back either."

I attacked first, aiming a hit at his core, only to wind up rolled over his back as he ducked. I landed on my feet, skidding back in a crouch before springing forward. We were evenly matched, with the first few minutes being us continuously maneuvering around each other. He was a speed-based combatant like me, but was by no means lacking in strength- plus he had the advantage in build (as in he was a tall son of a bitch and it wasn't my fault) which he had no shame in using. I began to notice that he really favored kicks, whereas I was more of an elbow person. Silly as it sounded, it was easier for someone with my build (read: short) to block and strike while keeping my arms in the same types of positions. I'd keep my arms close, do a quick turn and strike him in the side as he tried to get behind me. Pop my elbow up again and deliver a blow to the chin and knock him back. Unfortunately, he'd noticed this too, and started aiming low, screwing with my footing. It kept me on defense as I tried to stay stable. A knee strike or two worked fine, but that only made my balance even more shaky, and then he knew to stay out of range. Someone that damn tall had no business being as flexible as he was, managing to constantly stay out of reach. I was vaguely aware of how we had been moving at increasingly inhuman speeds, mere blurs as the two Godlings clashed in their stubbornness. When Kid paused the barrage of attacks on my legs I took the moment to find my feet- only for him to use the instant of low guard to land his heel in my gut. Jackass. The next kick was caught in the crook of my wrist, allowing me to deflect and land a kick of my own in his chest. Oh, and he was pretty solid there too, another bloody advantage. Made me wish I'd managed to kick him in the face instead. The only consolation was that he was also getting frustrated- I was constantly on defense, meaning he had to stay on offense waiting for me to make a mistake- and constantly being on the attack was tiring, allowing me to make short, cruel blows whenever he was forced to pause. My smaller size did come in handy that way. I was also a tad less honorable. Not that I kicked him in the groin or anything, but I didn't exactly stomp on his toes and then bury my knee in his solar plexus by accident. Granted he did manage to nearly kick my shoulder out of place almost immediately afterwards- which hurt like a bitch and would have meant instant defeat if I was forced to re-set it in the middle of the fight.

But as I said, I fought dirty. I took a short moment to remember the sketches in the books mom showed me (I was always better at remembering images than text), and recalled the lessons on pressure points. Ducking another kick, I unfurled my elbow to reach out and jab into his nearest nerve. Attacking with only two fingers extended must have caught him off-guard, because he stumbled back long enough for me to strike again in the opposite point.

"Symmetry's your thing, right?" I said, slinging him hard into another mirror.

It cracked threateningly, but didn't shatter from the impact this time. Kid winced painfully, now feeling his entire wavelength seizing up and locking his joints. He was clearly disoriented and stubbornly trying to remain lucid.

"I _am _sorry." I repeated, clutching my shoulder- it had begun to pulse with pain as my adrenaline slowed. "And thank you. No one's ever spoken to me that way before."

Kid was incapable of answering, probably internally insulting my honor or something. He settled for a frustrated glare that I assumed translated to _'That was a dirty trick and once I can move again you'll be sorry, alright, for I shall lecture you into oblivion! A pox on your houses, you disgraceful cheat! For shame!'_ Or something like that. So, knowing that this state wouldn't last long, I turned to the stairs and tried to leave my emotions behind me. What was I feeling sorry for? I was the one about to die. He'd be fine.

* * *

"I know you know where she is, you manipulative son of a bitch!" Mary shouted, pounding an accusatory fist on Peter's chest.

The middle cupid didn't look impressed.

"Pardon?"

"Don't you bloody 'pardon' me! You may be an irresistible piece of ass but you know where our friends are and I'm not having any more of this nonsense!" Mary screeched, pinning Peter against the wall by the school balcony. "You've practically been sitting up here and watching with bloody popcorn, I know you know what's going on!"

Leah wearily stood in the background, watching the battle continue far below. "Mary, don't you think-"

"SSSH!"

"… Did you just shush me?"

"Look, sweetheart, there's no need to get worked up." Peter raised an eyebrow at the angry elemental's fists as they clenched and wrinkled his shirt. "You think we'd jeopardize our cousin's welfare? Ouch."

"Shove off! If you don't know anything, then where's Kira?"

"What or who Joey does in his free time is not for me to worry about. We may be cupids, but we're not that kinky."

Leah sensed a dangerous anger building within her friend and placed a hand on her shoulder. This was sweet, patient, peacekeeping Mary- usually so quiet and sly. What had gotten into her?

"Where is she_." _Mary ground out from clenched teeth.

"If I remember right, didn't you volunteer to stay behind here?" Pete raised an eyebrow in challenge. "Could it be that avoiding your boyfriend troubles was more important than insuring L.J.'s safety? What grounds do you have to make accusations towards _me?"_

Mary's eye twitched, her resolve flickering a moment. Was… was this some sick test of theirs? Testing her loyalty to L.J.? It's the sort of thing they did. While it was true that Mary had purposely separated herself from Isaac, that didn't… L.J. was… oh, those sons of bitches.

"Take me to her. _Now._" Her voice was a deadly low pitch that Leah would never have dared refused, but the Son of Love just stared contently back.

"Honey." Peter smirked, prying the water godling's grip off his coat and holding her wrists lightly in his hands. "All you had to do was ask nicely."

**You guys wanted L.J.-Kid interaction, I give you exposition dialogue and violence. Sorry. But I wanted to really get the complexity of their issues across. To be perfectly honest, Kid is NOT a very well developed character in-series. There's not much we know about him personally, only the OCD and how passionate he is about the ideals associated with becoming Grim Reaper. He really seems naive by seeing the world as only good and evil, and is very into the "responsibility and honor" thing. Aaand that's really all we know about him, so it was all I had to work upon. Hope I did okay. I'm also hoping L.J.'s not too wangsty or sue-ish.**

**Next update might actually be today, but I need to sleep first. This is totally unedited, btw. I'll probably wake, read this and scream later. Thanks for being so patient guys, you really are the best!**


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